News Releases - 1999

St. John's Hospital in Springfield Recognized for Environmental Efforts

Springfield, Ill. -- Illinois EPA today recognized St. John's Hospital for volunteering to be the first Downstate hospital to participate in a waste reduction assessment program and for having the first hospital print shop in the state to join the Great Printers Project.

In March, a team from Illinois EPA and the Illinois Waste Management and Research Center conducted a two-hour assessment at the hospital, as part of a program to provide technical assistance to hospitals around the state. Hospitals previously involved in the program were all in the Chicago metro area.

"We are very impressed with St. John's environmental efforts. The facility has the most visible and accessible recycling program for paper, cans and glass that we've seen so far in any hospital. The program includes ongoing education of new and current employees. St. John's also has an extensive recycling program for waste chemicals in its laboratory and is phasing out the use of mercury-containing thermometers and gastrointestinal equipment," noted Illinois EPA Associate Director Peter Wise, in recognizing the hospital today.

"Stewardship of our natural world is a part of our Franciscan heritage. One of the more famous quotes from the talks of St. Francis is his reference to 'Brother Earth.' It was just a natural for us to look for ways we as an organization can reduce the negative impact we have on our environment," said St. John's Executive Vice President Al Laabs.

Among the positive findings from the assessment were St. John's recycling of solvents in the Histology Lab through the new EcoCycle 10 waste management system.

It eliminates potentially infectious sharps, glass, plastics and clinical lab waste very close to the source of generation. It also simultaneously grinds and decontaminates bio-hazardous waste, rendering it safe and unrecognizable in less than 15 minutes.

The assessment team also lauded St. John's active waste segregation program, its highly visible recycling efforts and its active Environmental Committee.

Recommendations for further improvements include more reduction of items containing mercury, in addition to the significant reductions already achieved; determine if bio-hazard red bags are free of cadmium; and implement a program to track red bag waste by department.

Wise also presented St. John's with a Great Printers certificate signed by Governor George Ryan that acknowledges the hospital's efforts to minimize waste in its printing operations and stay in compliance with environmental regulations.

There are 45 printing facilities throughout the state participating in this program.

St. John's print shop is the first at a hospital. It is already using recycled paper and leftover inks and has developed a waste reduction program that outlines further steps for reducing its waste, including eliminating the use of organic cleaning solvents and investigating the use of recycled copy paper.