Mansfield and District Crematorium raised £11,600 for the John Eastwood Hospice Trust, Sutton, last year from a metal recycling scheme.

The crematorium donates money it receives from metal recovered from cremations, where bereaved families have given permission for it to be sent for recycling.

It is administered by Mansfield District Council and managed and operated by a joint committee, comprising representatives from Mansfield, Ashfield, and Newark and Sherwood district councils, which take it in turns to decide which charity should benefit.

This time it was the turn of Mansfield to donate the proceeds and a cheque was presented to the John Eastwood Hospice.

The crematorium is part of the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management’s Recycling of Metals Scheme.

A specialist company is used by the crematorium to sort the metals collected. Proceeds collected nationally from the scheme are then divided among crematoria who have signed up to the scheme.

Crematorium and cemeteries manager and registrar Nada Colclough said: “When someone is cremated, the remains often contain various metals. They come from the coffin and also from replacement hip and knee joints. Some of this high grade cobalt steel is quite valuable in terms of recycling and can be made into new orthopaedic implants.

“We always ensure that any metal from cremated remains is sent for recycling only if we have the written consent of relatives prior to a cremation.”

Coun Andy Burgin, portfolio holder for Leisure and Environment, said: “This type of recycling means that these metals do not end up buried in the ground and instead go to a useful purpose as well as helping local charities.”

He is pictured with Nada Colclough and Lisa Todd (centre), fundraising manager at the hospice.