Our mission at Tuomey Healthcare System is to heal the sick, to tend to those in need with compassion and resolve. That mission doesn't stop at our doorstep -- or in our trash cans. Tuomey Green was started in 2009 to consolidate all the smaller efforts that were already in place and to cultivate those that were working best when it comes to Tuomey's environmental responsibility. The organization has been recycling cardboard and printer tone since the 1990s. Now office paper, batteries, fluorescent lamps and chemicals like the solvent xylene have followed.
The Tuomey Green Team and its initiatives were featured in the Summer
2010 issue of LifeTimes magazine, click here to view the article.
WHAT WE RECYCLE: Cardboard. Paper. Glass bottles. Plastic bottles. Aluminum cans. Batteries. Fluorescent lightbulbs, plastic needles and wooden pallets.
We have a new recycling program called
TERRACYCLE in which we’ll be recycling pens and markers and pencils. Sanford Brands, the company that’s conducting the program, will give us 2 cents per item, which we’ll donate to the Tuomey Foundation.
WAYS WE’VE REDUCED WASTE: We have new biodegradable carryout wheat bowls in the cafeteria, as well as reusable plastic plates and cups. We just purchased a new boiler system that will use far less water and energy. We’re using fewer chemicals to clean. We’re diverting tons of items to recycling programs and out of the waste stream.
WHAT OUR EMPLOYEES DO: We’re so lucky to have such terrific employees here. So many of them are excited about recycling and willing to do their part to help in each department, from nurses who make sure the surgical irrigation bottles get recycled to those who research the products we use to help find the ones with the least packaging, from Print Shop employees who make everything from notepads to confetti out of scrap paper to folks in various departments who recycle paper, cans and bottles and no longer print out items that can be distributed via email.
A rep from Sysco, our food service provider, told us,
“Everybody’s talking about going green, but you guys are actually doing it!”
Sumter County said we were
“setting the benchmark” for industrial recycling efforts.
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