Chosen as one of Canada's Greenest Employers for 2011:
By Kristina Leung and Richard Yerema, Mediacorp Canada Inc. staff editor
(
Apr 20, 2011)
Some of the reasons why The McGill University Health Centre was selected as one of Canada's Greenest Employers (2011):
adopted a formal environmental policy in 2006 and is an early signature to the "Charte de développement durable" of the City of Montréal, and is also an active participant in the provincial government's climate challenge initiative (called Défi Climat) that is designed to raise awareness and encourage residents to reduce their carbon footprints
as part of its policy, the MUHC established an in-house "Environmental Committee" that is comprised of directors from departments across the hospital who meet every six weeks to review and approve ongoing environmental initiatives
as part of the MUHC's environmental plan, approximately 400 trees have been planted to replace many diseased trees that have been removed -- the program ensured that the new trees came from 20 species of hardwoods and evergreens that are native to the Mount Royal ecosystem
employees have organized departmental employee-led green teams, such as the "Nursing Green Team", to help champion many of the health centre's waste reduction and recycling initiatives
recently launched an aggressive in-house battery recycling program that also encourages employees to bring their own batteries from home for proper disposal (over 1,500 kg of batteries have been diverted from landfills thus far) as well as an extensive e-waste collection program to properly dispose of unused computers, monitors and other peripheral devices
in addition to the Environmental Committee, MUHC has also established a separate "Energy Committee" that meets on a monthly basis to review options for reducing energy consumption from the hospital's lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, as well as reviewing energy options for ongoing infrastructure projects
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