Environmental Stewardship

Behind the scenes at Evergreen, members of the staff Green Team are working hard to make the hospital as environmentally friendly as possible.

While recycling has been the norm for years, new efforts are underway to expand our program. So far, our battery recycling program has kept an estimated half-ton of batteries out of area landfills. The team also works with Evergreen’s Environmental Services Department to make environmentally friendly changes and reduce wasteful packaging whenever possible.

Another significant green ‘coup’ at the hospital has been the phasing out of DEHP (Di-ethyl-6-hexyl-phthalate) in the NICU/Pediatric units. DEHP is a chemical added to plastic tubing to make it more flexible. It is considered to be a toxic chemical, especially in the male neonatal population. The NICU has been a leader in the Puget Sound and switched to safer, cost effective alternatives over the last couple of years.

Evergreen’s recycling efforts are doing more than just reducing our environmental footprint. Collections of open-but-unused medical supplies are routinely donated to Third World countries. Nursery equipment no longer needed at Evergreen has been shipped to a hospital in Uganda. It’s estimated that without this and other donations from this area’s hospital, about 80 percent of the pre-term babies born at that hospital would not survive.

The Green Team also focuses on educating Evergreen staff about what can be recycled, and bringing the whole green philosophy to employees, patients and visitors.