Reduce, reuse, recycle for a greener tomorrow.
St. Cloud Hospital is committed to providing high-quality care in a manner that promotes environmental sustainability. Programs at St. Cloud Hospital are designed to decrease adverse environmental impact. By using energy more efficiently, reducing resource consumption, decreasing waste production and increasing recycling, St. Cloud Hospital is doing its part to ensure a more sustainable future. Our green activities and goals fall into three main categories: purchasing, resource conservation and waste management.

A Green Task Force is working to create and implement eco-friendly initiatives at St. Cloud Hospital. The task force is made up of members from various departments including: Nutrition Services, Environmental Services, Communications, Facilities and Supply Chain Management.

The Green Task Force is currently working with Minnesota Waste Wise to help St. Cloud Hospital with waste reduction, resource conservation and energy efficiency. The Green Task Force is also one of seventy hospitals in Northern America participating in a one year Operations Pilot program through the Green Guide for Health Care. The value of Pilot participation is to be a leader participating with a community of like-minded hospitals engaged in like efforts.

Purchasing
Products and equipment used for patient care at St. Cloud Hospital are evaluated using several criteria: patient safety, quality, standardization, contractual compliance and pricing.

We are in the process of developing a hospital-wide Environmentally Preferred Purchasing (EPP) program to broaden our selection process to include sustainability criteria such as reduced waste and toxin production during product manufacturing, reusability and recyclability. This program will consider the full life cycle of a product from point of origin to disposal, incorporating assessment of its impact at each step in the life cycle.

Resource Conservation

Energy
Through a variety of strategies, we maintain awareness of our energy consumption.
To reduce our use of natural resources, our initiatives include:
• Upgrading heating, cooling and ventilation systems;
• Installing energy-efficient motors, equipment, lighting fixtures, installing compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) and light emitting diode lamps (LED);
• Using automated control systems that manage energy use;
• Conducting annual comprehensive energy audits; and
• Simply turning off lights when leaving the room or turning off computers at the end of the day.
In Fiscal Year 2010, the cost to heat, cool, power the hospital campus totaled approximately $2.55 million.

Water
Our ability to meet the needs of our growing facility hinges on clean fresh water.
Our initiative encourages water use reduction through the following:
• Installation of low-flow fixtures and components where possible;
• Using state-of-art washing machines that reduce water consumption and eliminate the need for drying;
• Closely analyzing water treatment for the cooling/heating system; and
• Landscaping for the hospital’s east expansion that will conserve water
and reduce runoff.
In Fiscal Year 2010, the cost to supply water to the hospital campus totaled approximately $304,000.

Waste Management and Recycling

Waste Management
Management of the health care waste-stream is highly complex. Much consideration and care goes into properly disposing wastes to ensure no harm is done to the environment. St. Cloud Hospital is constantly exploring safer and more efficient ways to dispose of and reduce waste. Through use of regulated vendors and minimizing universal waste, we have been able to reduce the amount sent to landfills.

Regulated medical waste is a term used to classify certain waste materials that pose a danger of infection if disposed of improperly. There are separate federal and state regulations for medical waste.

Recycling
Recycling provides a valuable opportunity to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills. At St. Cloud Hospital, glass, plastic, tin and aluminum are co-mingled for collection. Separate containers for paper products are able to accommodate cardboard, newspaper, magazines, catalogs, junk mail, envelopes, office paper and brown paper bags.

Goals for Fiscal Year 2011
1. Develop and implement an Environmentally Preferred Purchasing (EPP) program.
2. Increase employee and volunteer participation through engagement activities, education, and communication.
3. Develop a plan to reduce the use and cost of utilities.
4. Reduce total waste by .5 lbs per employee.

Our goal through these objectives is to build a “culture of sustainability” to support future goals to reduce waste and use of resource.

We invite you to revisit this site periodically for progress reports, articles of interest and ways for you to take an active role in these efforts.

Tell us your story - Share your ideas - Join this effort
Do you have a bright idea on how to conserve energy and resources? If you have a story or idea you want to share, we’d like to hear from you. Please contact the Supply Chain Management department at St. Cloud Hospital at 320-255-5630.