Residents on a mission to protect our planet

Protecting our planet is important to residents across our Care Communities, who are taking recycling, re-purposing and re-use into their own hands.

Supporting local community environmental goals and behaviours

It all started when our residents at Springwood Greens Care Community watched the inspiring David Attenborough’s documentary series, A life on our Planet, which looks at humanity’s impact on nature.

They decided there and then to do something positive in response to the detrimental impacts of consumerism and loss of native habitats demonstrated in the program.

In a brainstorming session, residents devised a rigorous recycling program to help redirect waste away from landfill. Working together, our residents and team now:

• Sort recyclable materials into hired skips with several new, smaller recycling bins now in place inside the building
• Instead of unnecessarily contributing to landfill, a significant amount of plastics, tin, glass and clothing are being diverted to recycling and re-use
• Food scraps from the kitchen now go into composting bins for use in our extensive gardens

Our residents at Springwood Greens Care Community aren’t the only ones taking charge.

Here's more tips from our residents on how to ‘go green for good’:

• Reduce – planting your own garden can play a major role in reducing waste. By growing more of our own food, we’re able to rely less on outsourced food that often comes in unrecyclable packaging. At Winston Hillside Care Community, our residents plant and harvest fresh fruit and vegetables which go straight into meals freshly cooked by our Chef. Our team separates plant-based food scraps for composting or to feed our chickens.
• Reuse – our Tingira Hills Care Community residents and team raise funds for Cardiff Survivors R Us by selling unused or unclaimed clothing, and collect items that can be repurposed for art or spare parts.
• Recycle – rather than buying greeting cards for occasions, our residents at Canterbury Place Care Community save their handmade artworks and rework them into greeting cards for loved ones. In 2021, their artwork featured on Opal HealthCare’s Christmas cards.

Building a shared sense of purpose and pride

Like so many others, our residents and team are motivated by a desire to protect our natural environment. But we’re also in a unique position to observe the benefits of these small yet vital actions on our residents. Increasing their agency in daily life, contributing to social issues that are important to them, helping to educate others, and having a sense of purpose are vital wellbeing boosters. Good people, going green for good.