Halloween. The perfect day, some might say, to welcome the 7 billionth inhabitant to our fair planet. A good time, also, to reflect on some “spooky” hospital sustainability numbers…so cue the Monster Mash and here we go…

  • UHN produces over 24,000 pounds of garbage each day (“I was working in the lab late one night”) …
  • …that works out to over 15 pounds a minute, 526,600 minutes a year (“When my eyes beheld an eerie sight”)
  • during the hot, hot days of last July, UHN was spending almost $4 a minute on utilities (“For my monster from his slab began to rise”)…
  • …at its peak, Toronto General was using as much electricity in an hour as my house uses for an entire year (“And suddenly to my surprise”)

But Halloween is not only about tricks, so here are a few treats…

  • since the start of UHN’s recycling program over 22 million pounds of waste have been diverted from landfill (“He did the mash – he did the monster mash”)…
  • …over 5 million of those diverted pounds were “cans & bottles” that, if placed end to end, would stretch half-way around the world (“The monster mash – it was a graveyard smash”)
  • UHN has avoided over $10 million in utility costs from energy and water efficiency projects (“He did the mash – it caught on in a flash”)…
  • …we’re also using 170 million less liters of water each year than we did five years ago (“He did the mash – he did the monster mash”)

Happy Halloween everyone…and welcome person number 7 billion, welcome!