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A former soldier who fell into a life of crime after leaving the army has praised the efforts of a Lancashire recycling plant and charity for effectively saving his life and helping him turn things around.

Ian Green spent seven years in and out of prison before being given a chance to work for Recycling Lives in Preston, which has helped hundreds of other ex-prisoners in recent years.

The justice secretary has called on more businesses to play a part in helping rehabilitate offenders by offering them work and support when they leave prison.

Sky News was given exclusive access to see the work undertaken the Preston company, which recycles scrap metals, cars, plastics and electricals.

Green was employed by the company three-and-a-half years ago and is now a qualified mechanical operator.

He told Sky News: "I have learnt to drive every single piece of plant machinery that we have on site, from a fork-lift truck to our cranes."

Green believes without the intervention and employment offered by the plant, he would be back behind bars.

"Well without this job, there wouldn't have been a rehabilitation for me, my life would have just spiralled completely out of control," he explained.

"With Recycling Lives, the opportunity that has been given to me to drive this machinery on-site every day is huge."

The company set up a charitable arm in 2012 to help reach out to ex-offenders, as well as the homeless and the long-term unemployed.

But bosses say there is also a hard-headed business model surrounding the company, which has a turnover of £100m and grew 60% over the past year.

Because of the work it does through the charity, other companies as well as the government are extra keen to award contracts to Recycling Lives.

Chief executive William Fletcher said: "The ethos of the business is different. We're here to focus on commerciality and we are very keen on having an entrepreneurial way to how we do business.

"But at the same time we want to put back directly into the community. And for us, it was a very simple idea to think, actually, one of the best ways of doing that is in the rehabilitation of offenders.

"We have great employment opportunities for people who are willing to put the effort in, work hard, learn a skill and proceed and progress in life.

"In return we get incredibly loyal employees and because of the wrap around service that we have, in terms of the support we offer ex-offenders, we get a lot of loyalty back, which then helps our business to grow."

That wraparound service is provided mainly through the charitable arm and includes practical and welfare support, as well as accommodation.

Green lived in the accommodation block for the first 10 months after he was released from prison and said the material and emotional help offered to him was vital.

He showed us around one of the rooms he used to live in, which is more like a hotel room than the prison cell he had previously occupied.

"To be able to come here and concentrate on turning your life around, and having the facilities and the management team to do that, is huge," he said.

"Adjusting from a prison cell is hard enough, but to come here and just see a room like this, I felt like break-dancing.

"It was massive for me to be able to enjoy this room and the time I had in here and the time I had at the Recycling Lives charity centre."

The former soldier said he tried to go straight every time he was released from prison, but with no job and no support, he ended up committing further offences.

"I was hitting a brick wall every time I tried something," he said.

"It was only when I met Recycling Lives that they showed me a doorway I could enter through with their help."

Charity CEO Alasdair Jackson said at any given time Recycling Lives is helping around 300 ex-offenders.

He said: "It's a whole process, work is one part of it, accommodation is another part of it, wraparound care, pastoral care, it's vital. One without the other doesn't work, you need all of those different facets to create the programme that means the men have got the best chance of succeeding at the end."

The charity has expanded into other parts of England, offering similar employment opportunities.

Mr Jackson continued: "We have academies in 12 prison workshops, we recycle televisions, we recycle electronics and we make skips in some."

But the charity boss said the continuing success of the project relies heavily on other wraparound care it provides.

"It's key that you have that support," he said.

"Lots of the men and women who come through the programme may not have links with their family anymore, we almost become part of that family to help them through the trials and tribulations of what we all go through.

"So it's key that all the different building blocks are there to give them the best chance."

The justice secretary praised the work undertaken by the recycling firm and its associated charity, and called on other businesses to get involved in the rehabilitation of offenders.

David Gauke said: "Initiatives like this send a clear message to offenders that hard work and good behaviour in prison can lead to real opportunities and a better life.

"I encourage more businesses to recognise the value ex-offenders can bring to their organisation "giving them a platform to turn their backs on crime for good."

Government enthusiasm for such schemes is obvious when you look at their impact of reoffending rates.

On average, almost 65% of those released from prison will go on to commit further offences within 12 months.

But the re-offending rate for those employed by Recycling Lives is just 5%.