UPMC Passavant Recycling Event Aims to Save Paper, Trees and the Planet
By: Stephanie Stanley
UPMC Passavant is committed to helping employees, patients and community members protect private information, while also helping the environment. To that end, the hospital will once again host a free “Shred-It” event for the community from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday in the hospital’s Green Lot, located at 9100 Babcock Blvd. in Pittsburgh.
Everyone can safely and securely dispose of unwanted documents while helping the environment. Any confidential information will be accepted, including bills, bank account information and all other paperwork. Attendees can watch the “Shred-It” vehicle destroy confidential information. There is a limit of 6 boxes per vehicle. Last year’s event saw nearly 14,000 pounds of paper recycled.
UPMC Passavant Green Team’s wide array of associate and community engagement activities, such as the above-mentioned “Shred-It” event and upcoming McCandless and Cranberry campus cleanups (where free tree saplings also will be available for employees who want them), led to the hospital receiving the Pennsylvania Resource Council Zero Waste Excellence Award for Activity and Events.
“This year, the UPMC Passavant Green Team truly committed to the education and involvement of not only UPMC staff, but our community as well,” said Lori Ferguson, director, UPMC Passavant Environmental Services.
Brother’s Brother Foundation received more than 500 items from UPMC Passavant in 2017, including wheelchairs, walkers, IV poles, crutches and many other medical supplies.
“It is easy to see how UPMC Passavant is making a tremendous impact on this community in waste diversion, while bringing much-needed assistance to needy peoples around the world,” said Luke Hingson, president of the Brother’s Brother Foundation.
A sampling of UPMC’s overall recycle/reuse statistics includes:
Total volume of 412Rescue food nation July 2017 – March 2018: 5,831 pounds
Global Links diversion volume in 2017:
Supplies: 85,214.8 pounds
Furniture: 184,436 pounds
Confidential document destruction total volume in 2017:
