As Earth Month 2018 drew to a close, Health City Cayman Islands released its 2017 conservation statistics – revealing that the tertiary-care hospital has saved over 15 million gallons of water, 6.5 million kilowatts of electricity, almost 400,000 gallons of diesel, and over 9.5 million pounds of carbon since its opening in April 2014.
Additionally, the facility has diverted over 218,000 pounds of medical waste from the George Town Landfill. That is 84 per cent of the total medical waste generated by the facility.
To date, the hospital’s waste reduction and landfill diversion programs have saved almost 80,000 pounds of recycling materials, with 64 percent of total waste being diverted from the landfill. These efforts include a recycling program for cardboard, glass and aluminum as well as onsite medical waste treatment.
Due to onsite sewage treatment, over 6.3 million gallons of effluent have been diverted from ground disposal since the hospital opened.
The water savings have resulted from Health City’s water harvesting and conservation initiative, which re-uses gray water for non-potable and irrigation purposes. The electricity, carbon and diesel savings are the products of the facility’s building management system and HVAC system diversification.
Health City Clinical Director Dr. Binoy Chattuparambil said, “Health City Cayman Islands has been committed from inception to be a conservation-minded development – from construction through operations. The building infrastructure and many building systems were built into the project to support the conservation theme. These programs and initiatives have made positive impacts on the community, environment, and hospital economics.”
In 2017 alone, the hospital’s conservation programs saved 4.3 million gallons of water, 1.4 million kilowatts of electricity, almost 100,000 gallons of diesel, and 2.4 million pounds of carbon.
Health City was built in 2014 with a strong focus on innovation, incorporating a design that respects the environment, reflecting a high level of accountability for use of natural resources. The hospital incorporates the latest energy efficient systems and implements a self-sustaining process into every operation possible, in order to reduce the facility’s overall carbon footprint.
As well as implementing efficient processes within the facility, the gardens around Health City were designed to include indigenous trees, which protect the ecosystem and maintain local species of flora and fauna.
Director of Business Development Shomari Scott said, “Over the past year, Health City has continued to implement our core values of innovation and accountability when it comes to the environment. We are all proud to look after and preserve the health of our community, as well as our local environment and we are pleased with the 2017 results. We look forward to continuing these efforts every year.”
