| A first time visitor to
the Tzu Chi Hospital will wonder why trash cans
are so difficult to find. This is because Tzu
Chi Hospital wants to promote conservation. Recycling
bins are placed on each floor with pictorial signs
that teach people how to separate different types
of recyclables. The result is the huge reduction
of trash, and limited need for tradition trash
cans. The numbers show the results of the hospital’s
success. In 1999, Tzu Chi Hospital in Hualien
recycled 70,483 kg of paper; 7,566 kg of plastics;
and 4,335 kg of metal. In addition, 8,600 tons
of water were saved.
The hospital first opened its doors in 1986. Its
1,700 employees are totally committed to recycling.
For example, all of the employees bring their
own bowls and utensils to work. This simple practice
translates into a huge amount of resources conserved.
On average the employees help eliminate the use
of 570,000 styrofoam plates and pairs of disposable
chopsticks a year. Over time, the hospital began
serving meals to most patients with reusable plates
and utensils. Tzu Chi Hospital’s General
Affairs Director Jin-Chu Wang points out that
Tzu Chi Hospital has received the ISO 9002 certification
and all of the dishes are washed and sanitized
in industrial-strength dishwashers that use high
temperature water to kill germs. Patients with
communicable diseases are given disposable dishes
that can be easily discarded after use.
Another notable way Tzu Chi Hospital helps to
protect the environment is through the use of
water conservation methods, including recycling
rainwater and utilizing flow-restricting devices.
In fact, the Tzu Chi Hospital in Hualien is the
first hospital in Taiwan to recycle rainwater.
Min-Chao Lin, chief of the construction department
at Tzu Chi Foundation, said, “The best way
to promote water control, is to find a balance
between using resources and conserving them.”
In early 1990, Tzu Chi went to Gansu Province
in China to help build cisterns to collect rainwater.
And although Hualien receives more rain in one
day than Gansu does in a whole year, Tzu Chi founder
Dharma Master Cheng Yen constantly reminds everyone
that water is a precious resource. Therefore,
the innovative concepts used in Gansu were incorporated
into Hualien hospital’s green building’s
designs. According to Lin, “Tzu Chi is the
first hospital in Taiwan to use recycled rainwater.
Based on topography, the hospital was designed
so that rainwater is collected from higher ground
and flows down to a reservoir where it is stored
and used for watering the lawns and flushing toilets.
This process also helps to conserve electricity
typically used to power water pumps.”
To further conserve water, Tzu Chi Hospital has
also installed a special type of toilet that has
two different levers for flushing. Typical toilets
use about 15 liters of water per flush. After
the new levers were installed, the user can choose
lever one, which uses 9 liters of water to flush,
or lever two, which only uses 6 liters. After
construction of the Tzu Chi Hospital was completed,
this model of water recycling and conservation
was then duplicated in all Tzu Chi buildings.
And while rainwater is collected for reuse, some
of the water is also allowed to flow back into
the ground as nature intended. “When we
build structures on top of the Earth’s crust,
we inevitably affect the way water seeps into
the ground. Because of this, we have also incorporated
a design so that at the bottom of all drains,
there are layers of pebbles which allow water
to flow much more slowly so that the water can
be absorbed to replenish our underground water
supply,” Lin said.
For its proven recycling program, water conservation
methods, use of reusable dishes and utensils and
overall improved environment, Tzu Chi received
the award for “Outstanding Office Environmental
Protection” from Taiwan’s Environmental
Protection Administration. Tzu Chi Hospital makes
good use of natural resources. It is a green building
that demonstrates that human beings can coexist
respectfully with other living beings and Mother
Earth.
Source: article from
Tzu Chi Monthly No. 408 (Nov. 2000) by Yu-Wen
Fan
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