The James E. Van Zandt Veterans Affairs Medical Center, located in Altoona, Pennsylvania, recently received a Federal Green Challenge Award from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) thanks to its achievements in recycling electronics.
“The recycling accomplishments at the James E. Van Zandt Veterans Affairs Medical Center demonstrate how federal facilities can be leaders in reducing their environmental footprint,” EPA’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin said. “Our Federal Green Challenge awards recognize these efforts and encourages other federal agencies to take steps to further conserve resources and protect the environment.”
Over the course of 2015, the medical center recycled 8.2 tons of end-of-life electronics, which gave it the highest percentage increase for electronic recycling of all the facilities taking part in the Federal Green Challenge that year. Further, the center also managed to recycle approximately 61 percent of their waste-stream, one of the highest figures in the Veterans Affairs system.
The Federal Green Challenge encourages federal facilities to work to reduce their environmental footprint, recognizing achievements in waste diversion, water conservation, distance travelled by their fleets, natural gas use reduction and electronics recycling. Last year saw more than 400 federal facilities participate in the challenge, which also helped them reduce their operations costs in many cases.
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