upils at Wandle Valley school have made creative use of the felt donated to them by Aztec Event Services by crafting more than a dozen superb artworks celebrating the Mexican Day of the Dead on November 1. Aptly enough, scholars have traced the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl! The imaginatively gruesome skull designs are very much in keeping with the modern Mexican festival, and perfect for Halloween too.
As part of its overall commitment to sustainability, Aztec Event Services has been donating surplus felt to local schools for years. Aztec uses large amounts of felt, in different colours, to cover set panels for the sets it provides for conferences. Felt is not an easily recyclable material in the same way as paper, glass and plastics, but it does make an excellent crafting material. Donating the recovered felt to schools for re-use was an obvious alternative to recycling the material, and fitted in well with Aztec’s desire to make a positive contribution to the local area in as many ways as possible.
A commitment to sustainability means instilling an ethos into the company to reduce, reuse and recycle by default.This ethos is evident at Aztec where considerable amounts of paper, card and expended batteries are regularly sent to recycling facilities. Where items or materials cannot be recycled they are reused; a recent office refurbishment resulted in all its surplus desks being donated to local businesses. Aztec’s entire fleet of vehicles run solely on bio-diesel, and recently Aztec has teamed up with Evans Cycles to provide Aztec staff with a Ride2Work scheme which promotes healthier journeys to work, reduces congestion and offers a positive lifestyle benefit to employees.
John Robson, managing director at Aztec Event Services, said, “I’m surrounded by a team of very creative people so it seems natural to me that we would find a great way to extend the life of our single biggest waste product. And the fact that children are able to use the material for creative purposes is an extra bonus!”
