Our environmental initiatives are a major priority at Siddhasthali Hospital. Below, we highlight a few of the most important ways we’re minimizing our impact on the planet.
At Siddhasthali, we believe that a complete and holistic approach to health means taking steps to protect our planet, as well as our people. Our environmental initiatives, including the use of sustainable building materials, aim to help our community without harming our environment.
Our Construction
In recent years, we have seen excessive use of bricks for construction work. In lieu of using bricks to build our hospital, we’ve chosen to use AAC (Autoclaved Aerated Concrete) blocks, a new building technology. We hired an engineer and trained local workers to work with them so that they can continue this work, make a living, and help us protect the environment by using this new technology in future construction.
Below are some of the benefits of AAC blocks:
- They are bigger in size (one AAC block equals 5 bricks, which means less material is used).
- They provide better thermal insulation, so less heating and cooling will be needed.
- They provide excellent sound insulation.
- They are fire-resistant.
- They are carbon-neutral, and therefore reduce our carbon footprint.
Siddhasthali is the first hospital in Nepal to use AAC blocks, and we’re proud to be bringing this new, eco-friendly technology to our corner of the world. However, since AAC blocks require a different technique that is not routinely practised, we have had difficulty finding skilled labour to work with these blocks. While the technique may be different, we believe the benefits far outweigh the difficulties.
Planting Trees
One of the most direct ways to support the planet is by planting trees. Trees house 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity, keep our air clean, filter the water we drink, and even absorb carbon from the atmosphere to fight climate change. Through our “Going Green” initiative, each patient becomes a part of our environmental efforts: at the end of each year, we will plant a tree for every 100 patients that visit our hospital.
Reducing Plastic Waste
One of the greatest threats to our planet’s health is the ever-increasing amount of plastic waste that clogs our oceans and landfills. For this reason, we have adopted various strategies to reduce plastic waste generation at our hospital:
- We will promote the use of eco-friendly bags, which we define as being made from leaf, paper, cloth, polyester, or recycled materials.
- We will ban the use of certain single-use plastics such as plates, cutlery, polystyrene food containers, beverage cups, and drinking straws in the hospital.
- Our cafeteria will serve food to patients and visitors using reusable plates and cutlery.
- To discourage the use of plastic water bottles, we will introduce water fountains and replace plastic cups with paper cups.
Other Initiatives:
Our commitment runs through every facet of our operations. We:
- encourage the use of donated items where safe
- purchase sustainable products to support the hospital
- utilize autoclave technology as an alternative to waste incineration
- substitute mercury products with non-mercury products
- use double-sided printing paper
- host this website on an eco-friendly platform to reduce carbon emissions.