A FINANCE worker who gave up his job to help the environment has been nominated for a Green Guardian award.

Phil Meakins has been project manager at the Riverwood Project, based at the Woolwich Common Enterprise Centre in Peace Street.

The project offers experience of wood recycling for adults with learning disabilities.

Participants remove wood from the Thames to sculpt furniture and other items for sale.

Each year the project recycles 50 tonnes of wood that would otherwise end up in landfill or floating down the river.

Previously working in the finance sector, Mr Meakins went to university to study environmental science and eight years ago took the Riverwood Project job.

He said: “I began to question the whole financial industry and my part in it.

“I had always been an environmentalist and realised proft-making and its protection were not compatible.”

Mr Meakins, nominated in the Green Champion category, now plans to set up a pallet collection service to businesses in the area.

He said: “The work we do increases the environmental awareness of the volunteers and the knowledge they gain is often transferred into their everyday lives.”

Mr Meakins is a keen home recycler and uses biodegradable waste as compost for his allotment where he grows his own vegetables.

He said: “These vegetables taste far superior to anything you can buy in the supermarket. I pass my surplus produce to my local unemployed centre - I hate to see food go to waste.”

And he also has some bold ideas to help us live a greener life in the future.

He said: “If I was prime minster I’d introduce a green credit card. You’d only have so many points a year and this would limit our environmentally damaging behaviour.

“It wouldn’t be possible to take unlimited flights, drive a petrol-guzzling car and heat your home. You would have to make choices.”

This year’s Green Guardian Awards are being held at the Wyndham Grand, Chelsea Harbour, on February 26.