EPA, Bayonne Medical Center Team Up to Green Hospital

NEW YORK, N.Y. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Bayonne Medical Center have entered into an agreement to work together to achieve a number of environmentally beneficial goals, the first such agreement between EPA and a New Jersey Hospital. The agreement commits Bayonne Medical Center to participate in various EPA environmental stewardship programs, and provide technical assistance and support from EPA.

“Bayonne Medical Center has a history of improving the health of the people they serve, and the environmentally sound practices in this agreement will help them create a healthier environment for all,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “Other hospitals in New Jersey should look to Bayonne’s example and do their part to create healthier communities.”

Under its Memorandum of Understanding with EPA, Bayonne Medical Center has agreed to:

•Install solar photovoltaic systems on the roof of its parking garage.

•Implement a program to separate the collection of food waste for composting, which will decrease the need to send organic materials to landfills.

•Achieve at least a 10 percent reduction in energy consumption, and become an EPA Energy Star partner.

•Boost solid-waste recycling and the reuse of industrial materials, including recycling of electronic waste and fluorescent bulbs. Bayonne Medical Center will also join EPA’s WasteWise program.

•Improve its sustainable landscaping, water conservation and stormwater management programs, with the assistance of WaterSense products and through consultation with EPA’s Greenscapes program.

•Use environmentally friendly construction materials and energy efficient lighting fixtures.

•Recycle or reprocess medical equipment lamps, batteries, laser toner and inkjet cartridges.

•Reduce air pollution from vehicles and other internal combustion engines used in construction and operation of its facilities.

The medical center will submit an annual status report to EPA. EPA will use this report to determine the environmental benefits associated with the hospital’s green activities and provide feedback on ways to improve its environmental performance.