Sustainability is at the heart of the Wexner Medical Center's healing mission – and they’re proud to share that as a result of their hard work, they have been awarded the Environmental Excellence Award from Practice Greenhealth, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to environmental sustainability in health care.
Despite the unprecedented times over the last year and a half, the center successfully reported achievement across 11 different areas of sustainability through the annual Environmental Excellence Awards program. They highlighted their community involvement, investments in resilience and how they address racial equity and health disparities.
During the award review period of fiscal year 2020, the medical center’s sustainability efforts resulted in $3 million in cost avoidance, a 2% decrease in energy, and increased landfill diversion to 33%. The Sustainability Council at the medical center takes a holistic approach to sustainability that looks at its environmental, societal and economic impact. This drives the work to not just focus on increasing recycling efforts or improving energy efficiency, but also to offer programs such as donating food to those in need in their community – a win-win, since it also is another way to divert the waste.
In addition to hosting virtual educational opportunities, the medical center’s employee-led Green Team offered a “take back” day on Earth Day, which provided the opportunity for faculty and staff to confidentially shred more than 3,250 pounds of documents in addition to recycling 3 cubic yards of electronics, 70 pairs of shoes and 50 pounds of batteries.
---------------------
The Green Team is always looking for input, ideas and energetic participants interested in supporting the medical center’s sustainability goals. Sign up to be part of the team or email sustainability@osumc.edu with your ideas.
Original press release from the Wexner Medical Center.