One of Mercy Hospital’s four values is Whakaute (Respect). Central to this is considering the impact of our decisions and actions on our natural resources and environment. Our founders, the Sisters of Mercy, also have a focus on the increasing importance of sensitivity to the environment – one of their global action themes is ‘addressing degradation of Earth’. This underscores our commitment to operating sustainably.
In March 2021 we achieved Toitū Enviromark Gold certification and have maintained our Gold status since.
This means we’ve identified and established objectives and targets and have implemented programmes to address significant environmental aspects. We’re compliant with all relevant legislation and we can demonstrate commitment by our top management and Board of Directors.
Our current sustainability initiatives include:
- Including sustainability criteria in product purchase decisions, and seeking product lifecycle information from key suppliers;
- Extensive recycling including plastics, paper, cardboard, aluminium, steel, medical PVC, glass, e-waste, fluorescent light tubes;
- Various waste minimisation projects to work towards reduced landfill waste targets;
- Scoping our energy usage and energy carbon emissions profile to enable reduction targets to be set;
- Monitoring, educating and reporting on our use of the anaesthetic gas Desflurane, a potent greenhouse gas;
- Careful, audited disposal of hazardous waste and medical and cytotoxic waste;
- Continuous planting to maintain our green, park-like campus environment;
- Maintenance of a small kitchen garden (herbs, salad, tomatoes, lemons) and a worm farm for food scraps;
- Where possible, selection of local, responsibly grown food for patients and staff;
- Energy-efficient lighting;
- Smart building controls to minimise power and water consumption.