BART has a girlfriend!

A new mascot called GRACE — Go Recycle A Can Everyday — will be based in several locations across the hospital, alongside a recycling bin, so that patients, visitors and staff can easily recycle aluminium cans.

And GRACE is not alone in the new campaign.

Her boyfriend BART — Be A Recycler Today — is already well established at the hospital, collecting recyclable plastics such as drinks bottles and packaging.

June Cadman, waste management and environmental services officer at the trust and the creative mind behind GRACE and BART, said: “Recycling waste in this way means that we send less to landfill and in turn look after the environment.

“It’s a national requirement for us to segregate waste and recycling means we put less in our black rubbish bags which are expensive for us to get taken away to be disposed of.

“I’m sure patients, visitors and staff will support us in making the new GRACE bins a success.”

GRACE and BART bins can be found along the main shopping concourse at Rotherham Hospital and in lift areas.

The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust has won national awards for the way it looks after waste and has recently been shortlisted as NHS Healthcare Recycler of Year as part of the The National Recycling Awards.