Friday, April 22, 2016
SJRMC Green Team Honored with State Recognition
San Juan Regional Medical Center is a proud recipient of the 2016 Governor’s Environmental Excellence Awards for its Green Team initiatives. The hospital’s second place finish in the Resource Stewardship category recognizes projects that reduce hazardous and solid waste, manage sustainable materials, and demonstrate energy conservation.
San Juan Regional Medical Center created the multi-disciplinary Green Team in 2007 to address ways to become better stewards of the environment. To date, the team has helped reduce the hospital’s carbon footprint via energy reduction, waste reduction, water reduction, waste recycling, and increasing the use of renewable resources.
“Over the years, I have had the opportunity to participate with the Green Team and realized early on the outstanding work they do, the achievements they have made, the planning that they participate in and their ability to measure and sustain their improvements,” Doug Frary, Vice President of Professional and Support Services, said.
In 2015 the Green Team recycled:
• 157,025 pounds of shredded paper
• 7,732 pounds of e-Waste
• 52,084 pounds of compostable waste
• 167,710 pounds of cardboard
• 1,940 pounds of batteries
• 22,696 pounds of single stream materials
The Green Team was also able to reprocess 4,874 pounds of medical instruments and avoid putting those items in the landfill, resulting in $194,951 in cost savings. Overall, the Green Team’s efforts resulted in 414,061 pounds of materials recycled instead of being sent to the landfill.
In an effort to reduce electrical power consumption, the Green Team introduced “Free Cooling” in 2015. This concept utilizes cool ambient temperatures during the winter and automatically shuts down power hungry chillers. The Green Team is currently working on additional sustainable concepts to help further reduce the hospital’s carbon footprint in the future. These initiatives will help make the hospital, City of Farmington, San Juan County, and the State of New Mexico less wasteful, healthier and cleaner for future generations.