Zuyderland
Challenge
From promise to proof
Sustainers helps organisations turn small, practical actions into measurable CO2 and business impact. Step by step, change becomes part of how work is done.
Get in touch“What an eye-opener—an app that gives you insight into the impact of your own daily actions. Simple, effective, and inspiring—it helps you make yourself, your team, and your company more sustainable within your own sphere of influence! No more excuses—just take action.”
The collaboration started with an email from Sustainers and a joint brainstorm session with VGZ. VGZ had helped design challenges specifically focused on behaviour change within healthcare. That was the moment it clicked for Petra. The content connected exactly to what she wanted to do. Everything was measurable. And the approach was scalable for a large healthcare organisation.
Sustainers is not a communication campaign. It is a behaviour change tool that helps people build new habits step by step. Concrete, personal and without a large time investment. Exactly what a hospital needs.
The approach
Zuyderland is taking a phased, decentralised approach. No big central kick-off, but a movement that grows from the work floor itself.
A key role belongs to David Martens, nurse at the Emergency Department and Green Nurse at Zuyderland. He is the ambassador bringing Samen de Zorg Vergroenen to life from the inside. Not as a manager imposing it from above, but as a colleague who leads by example. Someone who knows what it is like to work a busy shift and still make small sustainable choices every day.
The focus is on nursing staff, but the goal is to reach the entire healthcare organisation. Through the Sustainers app, employees build new sustainable habits across dozens of topics. From waste separation and energy saving to more conscious use of materials and smarter mobility. All measurable. All directly applicable in daily practice.
What Zuyderland wants to achieve
The goal is clear. Samen de Zorg Vergroenen is not a one-off campaign. It needs to become part of how employees act every day. A new norm on the work floor.
Concretely that means: a significant share of employees building new sustainable habits across dozens of topics. Less waste. Less CO₂. And lower costs. Three goals that reinforce each other rather than compete.
At Zuyderland, sustainability is no longer a side issue. It is part of what good healthcare looks like.