About Sharp
All Ways Green
Sharp’s vision for a healthy environment.
The health of the planet is integral to our health and quality of life. At Sharp HealthCare, we are committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2040. Health care organizations have a significant impact on the environment — the availability of continuous care, building requirements for heat and humidity, supply chain needs, multiple waste streams, food use and more. Through our initiative called All Ways Green™, we continue to invest in innovative, socially responsible, sustainability projects and transform work practices to reduce our impact on the environment.
By reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we support our core mission to improve health. Our commitment to the environment aligns with the vision of The Sharp Experience to be the best place to work, practice medicine and receive care. We aim to become the most sustainable health care system in the universe, and we start here in San Diego.
At Sharp, we continue to invest in building and lighting systems improvements to reduce energy and water use. We collaborate with vendors to limit packaging, increase recycle rates, and provide effective cleaning products that are healthier for the environment. We were the first health care system in San Diego to install electric vehicle chargers and plan to triple our footprint for EV charging. We were also the first system to compost food from our hospital kitchens. We take pride in our commitment to ensuring the food we purchase is locally sourced and organic, whenever possible.
Sharp has received many awards for our sustainability efforts — but we don’t do any of this for the accolades, we do it for our future. Learn about our sustainability efforts and how we measure their impact.
Sharp’s Environmental Health, Wellness and Sustainability Plan is organized around eight core topics:
- Good health and well-being
- Efficient energy
- Water conservation
- Green building and construction
- Waste minimization
- Sustainable purchasing
- Transportation
- Safer chemicals
Good health and well-being.
At Sharp, we encourage access to healthy lifestyle choices and practice responsible food purchasing, consumption and production through:
- On-site garden and farms to provide produce for food service and donations to food insecure communities
- Patient, visitor and employee menus focused on Mediterranean and longevity-based diets
- Community programs to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition
- Offer vegan and plant-based menu options in our cafeterias
- Purchasing ingredients raised without antibiotics, are locally sourced and hormone-free
- Using imperfect produce
- Food composting and oil recycling
Efficient energy.
As part of our goal to reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption, we’ve implemented the following energy conservation initiatives:
- Electric vehicle charging stations
- Lighting retrofits
- Pipe insulations
- Infrastructure control initiatives
- Occupancy sensor installation
- Energy audits
- Elevator modernizations
- Energy-efficient motor and pump replacements
- Thermostat control software and temperature set-point projects
Water conservation.
In an effort to conserve water, we have made the following changes to ensure our facilities are operating optimally:
- Installation of water reduction systems
- Drought-tolerant landscaping
- Electronic low-flow faucets
- Mist eliminators
- Filtered water dispensers to reduce plastic water bottles
- Installation of water-efficient dishwashers and chemical dispensing systems
- Regular rounding to identify leaks
Green building and construction.
We support green and health hospital design and construction through:
- High-performance windows that allow for natural light and reduction of energy loss
- High-efficiency LED lighting
- Energy-efficient air and water systems
- Locally sourced construction materials whenever possible
- Approximately 90% of construction labor team members live in the region
- Limiting job site noise and odors through careful selection of roofing and waterproofing products
Waste minimization.
As an early adopter in the commitment to waste diversion, all Sharp facilities now divert more than 40 percent of waste through recycling, donating, composting, reprocessing and reusing programs. These efforts include:
- Use of recycled paper
- Compositing
- Lean Path partnership; reduce food production/waste
- Recycling of construction debris, electronic and pharmaceutical waste
- Partnership with Ssubi Is Hope, a nonprofit organization that collects donated, expired and unusable medical equipment to support a health center in rural Uganda
- Systemwide single-waste stream recycling program
- Surgical instrument reprocessing
Sustainable purchasing.
We aim to buy safer and more sustainable products and materials such as:
- Recyclable curtains
- Microfiber mobs
- Post-consumer recycled packaging solutions
- Energy-efficient kitchen and café appliances, chillers and motors
Transportation.
Sharp has partnered with SANDAG, San Diego's primary transportation agency, to encourage employees to find commuter solutions such as ridesharing, alternate transportation and more. In addition, we offers our employees:
- Travel discounts on transportation
- Commuter solutions resources
- E-charging stations
Safer chemicals.
We substitute harmful chemicals with safer alternatives such as:
- Green label cleaning products
- High-filtration vacuum cleaners
- Auto-scrubbing machines that only use water
- Microfiber technology
- Ultraviolet light disinfection
Highlights: Goals and progress.
- Sharp's energy initiatives have reduced the system's carbon footprint equal to the removal of almost 18,000 metric tons of CO2 each year
- Our waste minimization efforts combined have resulted in more than 4.7 thousand tons of waste diverted from the landfill
Community partners and resources.
Explore Sharp Health News.
Sharp is first local health system to go 100% clean energy
Sharp will now power all eligible facilities with 100% clean, renewable energy.
Sustainable shopping supports Sharp
Thrifting is good for the planet, the pocketbook and Sharp Grossmont Hospital.
How Sharp helps care for the environment
Sharp finds a number of ways to reduce its use of natural resources.