Green U Health

Adam Levi, President of the Student Green Committee at Miller, presenting "THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY GARDENS ON MEDICAL CAMPUSES: AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH TO DIET, HEALTH, AND ENGAGEMENT" at the Community Health Leadership Conference 2022.

The University of Miami’s Office of Sustainability challenges you to participate in the Freezer Challenge 2021!  The Freezer Challenge is a cold storage competition, on its fifth year, for laboratories run by the non-profit organizations My Green Lab and the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL).  More detailed information at miami.edu/greenlabs

Health care is on the frontlines of climate change, bearing the costs of increased diseases and more frequent, severe extreme weather events. It is critical that hospitals are able to care for people not only during and after extreme weather events, but also to address the social determinants of health to build resilient communities. Health care must also address its own footprint, which makes up nearly 10% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, with hospitals accounting for over one-third of those emissions. 

Health Care Without Harm works with hospitals across the country on climate solutions in a three-pillar framework of mitigation, resilience, and leadership. Come learn about how leading hospitals are implementing this approach and how you can support the transition to climate-smart health care.

The healthcare industry—by reducing its environmental impact and promoting patients well-being—has become a full actor in the global movement for sustainability and environmental health in our communities. Join us on Thursday, Jan. 30 at 12 p.m. at the Sylvester Support building (former name: MTSL) in Auditorium 110 on the 1^st floor. Jason Bell with Baptist Health Center for the Advancement of Learning, and Julie Moyle with Practice Green Health will be hosting the session. Julie will demonstrate  "The value of sustainability in Health Care", and Jason will explore “Connecting Sustainability to Employee and Community Engagement”

Food and beverages will be served. RSVP now!

Overview

Goodwill Laundry and Linens is the newest state of the art commercial healthcare laundry in South Florida. By nature the processing, laundering and re using textiles as opposed to disposable linen is the major component in being green for the customer and the provider.

Processing Equipment/ Energy Efficient

Energy efficient laundry processing equipment was given the highest priority when selecting the laundering and finishing equipment for the new laundry.

Tunnel Washers:  Milnor Pulse Flow tunnel washers were selected for the main washers to process linen for Goodwill Laundry and Linens. The American manufactured washers use only .40 gallons per pound of water to wash linens as opposed to the other manufacturers which are using .75 to one gallon of water per pound to do the same process.

This results in potentially over 1.6 million gallons of water not used from the Aquifer annually this year. The anticipated water savings with Jackson Health poundage will be over 5 million gallons saved annually.

Heat Reclamation: Goodwill Laundry and Linens captures the residual heat energy from the drain water from the washers and through a Kemco heat reclamation system and pre heats the incoming cold water thereby reducing the amount of (new) energy required to heat the water.

 In addition the high temperature exhaust air from the boilers are captured and used to make all the hot water required by the plant. No additional or (new) energy is required.

 
Dryers: Milnor 300 pound batch dryers were selected to dry linen due to the energy efficient way they accomplish the drying process. The dryers use less electricity and natural gas by utilizing humidity sensing technology. This allows the dryer to finish the drying process and discharge the linen as soon as it is dry as opposed to a (timed) drying process which continues to use energy even though the linen is dry. 

Ironers: Chicago self -contained thermal fluid heated ironers are used to iron linen. The ironers have a self- contained burner which uses significantly less energy as opposed to steam generated from a boiler eliminating the line loss and increased energy required.

Lighting: The Goodwill laundry facility uses the most up to date energy efficient lighting to illuminate the plant and work stations. The lighting is programmable using energy only in areas and times necessary. In addition LED lighting is used over work stations resulting in less energy consumption and improved linen quality control.

Lighting in offices, rest rooms and break rooms are controlled by motion sensors and automatically turns on and off depending on whether the space is occupied or not.

Recycling: Goodwill Laundry and Linens is committed to recycling as much as possible. All plastic especially plastic soiled linen bags are placed in a recycling compactor and sent to a recycling center where the bags are melted and repurposed to make new plastic products. The plastic recycling reduces the Goodwill’s trash flow to our landfills significantly. Goodwill has recycled over a quarter of a million pounds of plastic over the past 12 months.

Linen that has reached its useful purpose is recycled into rags and other useful products and not sent to the landfill.

Pallets received by the laundry for new linen shipments are re used by Goodwill’s main manufacturing facility for shipping.

All cardboard is sent to a cardboard recycling center

Used oils and greases are picked up by an oil recycling service and are reconstituted for additional use.

Employee Awareness: Upon orientation staff is made aware of our commitment to energy efficiencies and recycling the items listed above. Key staff working in areas of items to be recycled is responsible for making certain that they are handled and staged appropriately.

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