Published on: 7th January 2015
Inpatients at our mental health assessment and treatment unit for children and young people have been recycling unwanted waste materials in an environmental impact challenge.
With the help of NHS staff, inpatients at Ash Villa in Greylees near Sleaford, participated in the reuse recycle waste challenge set by the Trust to help it meet its sustainability targets in line with the UK Climate Change Act.
Working with teaching staff at the neighbouring Ash Villa School, the young people considered a number of ideas before agreeing to make a canine sculpture and a collage. The two-foot high sculpture, based on the unit’s own resident dog, Petra, was made from old sofa foam, swathed in bandages and plaster. The man-made disaster collage depicts a ‘bin bag’ volcano erupting with ‘bottle top’ lava to signify waste materials are having on the world.
The unit’s activity coordinator, Phil Lovell, said: “It was great to see the young people coming together, sharing ideas and working on the projects to make them come to life. In fact their enthusiasm for recycling has spilled over into other activities and now they want to restore the old greenhouse to its former glory and grow plants and vegetables.”
Inpatients were presented with £100 of gift vouchers in recognition of their achievement by members of the Trust’s estates team who developed and set the challenge with its waste services contractor, Veolia.
Spurred on by their success, the young people have since gutted the Ash Villa greenhouse for use and have already established a compost heap.
