In celebration of Earth Day, it’s time to take stock of the ways CoxHealth is working to protect the environment. Over the past couple of years, CoxHealth’s Environmental Leadership Council and our volunteer Green Team Champions have made changes that have reduced waste and encouraged recycling and energy conservation throughout the health system.In conjunction with CoxHealth’s Engineering, Environmental Services and Materials Management departments, we’ve been able to:
• Install an environmentally friendly floor covering on the hospital’s skywalk
• Switch to “greener” paper towels in restrooms throughout the hospital
• Expand the usage of concentrated, environmentally friendly cleaning chemicals that reduce the amount of water used in industrial floor scrubbers
• Recycle cardboard, paper and metal from throughout the system.
• Connect lights in areas that are not occupied 24 hours a day to motion sensors, allowing them to be off when no one’s around.
• Work to phase out CRT monitors for computers and replacing them with energy-saving flat-screen monitors.
• Modify bed-change policies to reduce the total amount of linens washed and the amount of water used.
Most recently, we’ve added aluminum and plastic recycling, which is managed by our Green Team champions – volunteers from throughout the system who are passionate about recycling and are pitching in to help make recycling a reality for their departments and four our guests. There are currently more than 100 champions volunteering to help with recycling in their departments and sharing ideas on Cox’s intranet.
The effort is ongoing, but small changes Cox has made over the last couple of years are helping us make a big difference in our environmental impact. A roundup of past overage of our efforts can be found here: http://www.coxhealth.com/body.cfm?id=3267
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