Medtronic is recognized as one of Canada’s Greenest Employers.
Medtronic's focus on sustainability is ongoing, and its employees help drive the company's goals to contribute towards a healthy planet.
There are many reasons why Medtronic Canada ULC was selected as one of Canada's Greenest Employers.
Making the neighborhood a cleaner place
Medtronic Canada hosted a clean-up crew to pick up litter around the office and surrounding neighborhood (on company time) - and in place of tree planting during the pandemic, the company sent marigold seeds and a compostable planter as an end-of-quarter present to employees to grow at home.
Promoting sustainable health care services
Medtronic Canada is a founding member of the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care that promotes environmentally responsible practices in the delivery of health care services - and the company recaptures its own medical devices to ensure proper recycling.
Creating an eco-friendly office environment
Medtronic Canada's head office features a green living moss wall in the employee entrance, preferential parking for employees driving electric and hybrid cars, EV charging stations - and is reviewing the feasibility of installing solar panels to generate power.
Choosing a green employer
As a recent university graduate with degrees in mechanical and biomechanical engineering, Shona Kamps was looking to launch her career in the health-care sector. When she read about how Medtronic Canada ULC is committed to combating climate change, it ticked another box.
“I am aware that the health-care industry is responsible for nearly five per cent of global carbon emissions," Shona says. “I was really attracted to Medtronic because it’s a leader in greening health care.”
Reducing carbon footprint
Shona, who started working on contract, landed a full-time position in October 2021 as a business analyst in Medtronic’s Integrated Health Solutions team. Her responsibilities include working with hospitals to evaluate and help optimize their systems and patient pathways.
Medtronic, the largest medical-device employer in Canada, has a spectrum of initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint. This includes measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with the goal of being carbon neutral by 2030. The company also works to minimize its environmental impact through product stewardship initiatives such as recycling medical devices where practicable and reducing packaging waste.
Making a personal impact
Shona applauds all these undertakings, but she was also keen to make a personal, hands-on contribution toward sustainability issues and efforts at Medtronic. A little networking, she says, soon connected her to a large community of employees also eager to do their share.
By the end of 2021, Shona and two colleagues had co-founded the Medtronic Environmental Action Group, a volunteer alliance dedicated to changing individual behavior and to creating systemic change through employee education, engagement and empowerment.
In just four months, the group grew to nearly 700 members in North America, Europe and the Middle East, encompassing a broad range of ages and Medtronic business units. Now organized into teams, they’re planning projects, organizing events and hosting digital talks on topics ranging from sustainable design to composting.
Passion among employees
The action group also has its own internal communications channel where employees can post questions, listen to podcasts and access a knowledge center, among other things. Shona describes the group’s initial accomplishments as bare-bones, but in light of members’ zeal and the goals they’ve set, she expects that to change.
“Everyone’s passion is so clearly evident,” she says. “Medtronic has the opportunity to drive the green transition in the healthcare industry and contribute to human health in conjunction with our mission to alleviate pain, restore health and extend life.”
Incorporating sustainability
As it turns out, Medtronic has a long-standing culture of empowering employees to drive change in the workplace. Just ask Donna Wong, Medtronic Canada's Montréal-based commercial leader of interventional neuroradiology & stroke neurology, who knows what it’s like to pursue a passion project.
Donna says that when she saw how much waste was being generated, she looked at ways to incorporate sustainability in programs within her sector. In decades past no one recycled medical devices. In 2021, Medtronic Canada recycled over 10,000 used medical devices, says Donna, who’s most familiar with the process for pacemakers and defibrillators.
Taking ownership and doing what's right
Other divisions have the flexibility to devise methods that suit their particular needs, she adds, but the goal is the same. “From design and manufacturing to packaging, distribution and disposal, we take ownership and do what’s right,” she says.
That’s in keeping with Medtronic’s overall approach to being a good environmental steward. “Twenty years ago, we never thought about sustainability,” says Donna. “Now it’s just automatically part of our calculations.”
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