Leading care provider Cygnet Health Care recently announced the launch of its Co-Sustain initiative, empowering staff and service users to take sustainability into their own hands.
Led by Cygnet Health Care’s Procurement and Experts By Experience teams, the Co-Sustain initiative relies on the principles of co-production to educate individuals. The initiative was launched to raise awareness of the impact that meaningful changes can make in terms of creating a positive impact on the environment.
Through Co-Sustain, Cygnet Health Care aims to work closely with residents, service users and staff, raising awareness of environmental issues, exploring creative ways new ways of reducing its carbon footprint across services and taking action to make the company more sustainable. One of the first projects launched as part of the Co-Sustain initiative is a new recycling bin pilot scheme, with the aim of educating people about the different types of waste streams and showing them how to dispose of materials correctly.
At Cygnet Cedars, Support Worker Raluca Serban and Speech and Language Therapy Assistant Amie Reeves have been busy co-producing eye-catching designs for new bin signage that encourages people to stop and think about where they dispose of their waste. Service users produced the initial designs for each material, including food, mixed recycling and general waste. Cygnet’s Marketing team then mocked up designs into branded stickers that were attached to the relevant bins.
Cygnet Health Care intends to extend the pilot scheme across six Cygnet services in the coming months, creating positive change by increasing recycling rates and lowering general waste. In addition to Cygnet Cedars, Cygnet Acer Clinic, Cygnet Hospital Harrow, Cygnet Churchill, Sheffield Day Services and Cygnet Hospital Taunton will all participate in the pilot scheme.
Right Size, Right Shape is another Co-Sustain project in the works. The programme was created to change food waste habits. Reflecting on the Right Size, Right Shape project, Cygnet Expert by Experience Lead Raf Hamaizia explained that sustainability is an extremely important topic and Cygnet’s Procurement team had been working tirelessly in the background to ensure the company was doing everything it could to support this important agenda.
The Co-Sustain initiative will pay an important part in Cygnet Health Care’s Sustainability Strategy, a key priority in the company’s Strategic Plan 2022-2027. Cygnet Health Care has set out several ambitious objectives it aims to achieve in the plan, including reducing direct and indirect emissions to net zero carbon by 2035 and achieving net zero carbon emissions in its supply chain by 2045. The organisation has already taken steps to reduce its carbon footprint, procuring 100% renewable electricity across all of its services since 2021.
About Cygnet Health Care
Established in 1988, Cygnet Health Care provides a wide range of services for people with mental health needs, learning disabilities and autism in the United Kingdom. The organisation has earned a strong reputation for delivering pioneering services, providing outstanding outcomes for the people in its care. Honouring its dedicated staff, Cygnet Health Care was proud to present its inaugural Cygnet Staff Achievement Awards on 15th November 2022, recognising and celebrating the dedication of hard-working colleagues across the organisation.
