Mainebiz

V O L . X X I I N O. I X M AY 2 , 2 0 1 6 22 O N T H E R E C O R D B Y J A M E S M C C A R T H Y S ix MaineHealth member orga- nizations and affi liates compost through We Compost It!: Maine Medical Center, Spring Harbor Hospital, Southern Maine Health Care, Stephens Memorial Hospital, Mid Coast Hospital and St. Mary's Regional Medical Center., as well as MaineHealth's corporate offi ce and Maine Medical Partners' practice at 887 Congress St. In 2015, MaineHealth members and organizations diverted over 235 tons of organics from the waste stream, generating approxi- mately 250 yards of compost approved by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association for use on cer- tifi ed organic growing soils. We Compost It!, a Portland-based company founded in 2011, collects food waste and other organics from a client base of more than 100 restaurants, seven hospitals, 37 schools and a number of food processors, universities and corpo- rate cafeterias in Maine. It also provides a residential curbside compost service in Portland, South Portland, Biddeford, Brunswick, Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, Freeport, Kennebunk, Saco and Westbrook in which customers pay a monthly fee to be members and receive fi ve-gallon buckets of compost per week. Mainebiz spoke with Veilleux and Emily Kain, program manager with Community Health Improvements, a division of MaineHealth, about the health system's composting initiative. Here's an edited transcript. Mainebiz: Tell us about your compost program. Richard Veilleux: In June 2014 we started composting with We Compost It! We fi gure we're reducing the amount of trash further by more than half a ton a year here at 110 Free St. — turning food waste and house plants and cut fl owers into compost. MB: These are items that other- wise would have gone to a landfi ll? RV: ey would have gone into the trash either to be burned or buried. With Eco-Maine it mostly would have been burned. It's the heaviest part of the waste stream. It's loaded with moisture, which reduces the effi ciency of the burning process, it takes energy to burn it. So, instead we're taking something that was waste and turning it into a valuable product that can then go to enrich soils in vegetable gardens and fl ower gardens. MB: What's been the reaction? RV: e employees are very interested and engaged. e general response is that this makes so much sense. Instead of producing waste, we're pro- ducing something of value. MB: Why are you doing this on top of your regular job? RV: Because I hate waste. e commit- ment of MaineHealth's senior leader- ship, as well as at Maine Medical Center and our other institutions, is critical. ey've seen the value of this, they heard from employees that this is important to us and they support it. So that's a great thing. We have lots more opportunities. MB: Emily, today you are distributing the compost. Does that happen rou- tinely, or is this a special occasion? EK: I can't speak for every one of the hospitals, but I do know that Spring Harbor last year around this time had a very similar event to what we're doing here today. We Compost It! brought in a big truckload of compost for employ- ees who wanted some. Maine Medical Center is also providing opportunities for employees to get some compost. We Compost It! is great about that part of the contract, where they pro- vide compost back to the hospitals so that employees can benefi t from the program. And some of our hospitals have gardens, so they will be able to use the compost there too. P H O T O / JA M E S M C C A R T H Y Richard Veilleux, program manager at MaineHealth and a member of the health system's Green Team, accepts a shovelful of compost from Tyler Gleason of We Compost It! during a pre-Earth Day event at MaineHealth's corporate offi ce at 110 Free St. in Portland. As program manager at MaineHealth, Richard Veilleux focuses on health care quality improvement. But he also volunteers with MaineHealth's Green Team, a grassroots employee effort to recycle and compost waste produced in the Portland-based health care system. At a pre-Earth Day celebration on April 19 at MaineHealth's corporate offi ce, he happily passed out bags and buckets of compost to employees. " " " " Colors Pantone 2747 Pantone 1807 IT Solutions Designed for Your Business Finding the right IT partner is one of the most important decisions your company can make. At WGTECH, making information technology work for your business is our core competency. We develop individualized solutions that help you grow your business, improve operations, and boost efficiency. We're Northern New England's resource for advanced technology – we'd like to partner with you. www.WGTECH.com 207.856.5300 Control Costs & Increase Productivity

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