10 Awesome Ways to Promote an Eco-Friendly Clinic

Has your office gone paperless yet? Digitizing all your documents is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to promoting green practices. Office spaces all over the world are innovating new ways to save on electricity, reduce (or even eliminate) waste and promote environmental stewardship. If you’re looking for ways to show your chiropractic clients that you believe in sustainability, here are some ways that you can go green in your office, courtesy of Atlas chiropractic software.

#1: Ban Plastic Bottles

Plastic bottles are a scourge on our planet, costing consumers thousands of dollars and inflicting our landfills and oceans with billions of unrecycled and non-biodegradable trashes. Many communities in North America have started banning or restricting the sale of single-use plastic bottles. Get on board by encouraging your employees to bring their own reusable bottles to work.

#2: Give Your Employees Clean Water

Round out the plastic-bottle ban by ensuring your staff and clients have clean, cold, and delicious water to drink. Install a water fountain or purchase a water filter for your sink. Not only does this promote the use of reusable water, it also provides your employees with nutritious drinking water at a low cost.

#3: Completely Switch Off

At the end of the day, turn off your lights, computers, and other equipment. You’ll save a ton of energy and lower your bill this way. If you want to take it a step even further, we suggest unplugging anything that continuously runs, like chargers or equipment with touchscreens, etc. If unplugging your computers isn’t possible, be sure to switch them on their lowest or eco-friendly setting before you leave for the day.

#4: Use Eco-Friendly Products

The benefits of switching to natural cleaning products reach far beyond their “green factor.” Using natural products to clean your breakroom, bathroom, and common areas instead of highly toxic cleaners promotes better air quality and isn’t harsh on people with allergies or skin sensitivities.

#5: Keep Your Hands off the Thermostat

Want to know where all your money is going? Check the thermostat. In winter or summer, your heat and AC unit is constantly pushing out controlled air to make you as comfortable as possible. However, many people are guilty of cranking the knob all the way up or down when simply dressing appropriately can do the trick.

According to Direct Energy, you can save up to 10% of your energy bill every year, just by adjusting your thermostat by 7 to 10 degrees during the day.

#6: Get Composting

Composting is a natural process in which organic matter is broken down into a humus-like substance and what gardeners call black gold. Composting is a natural, no-waste process that feeds our soil with healthy nutrients and helps promote abundant crop growth.

So, how can we help with that? Start collecting compostable material from the office! That includes all your staff’s leftover food scraps (except for meat and bones), coffee filters and grounds, paper towels, napkins, pencil shavings, shredded envelopes, etc.

Think of how much compostable scraps we can redirect and put to good use by inviting your staff and patients to compost in your easy-to-use bins. For more information about how to get started, ask your building manager or city.

#7: Introduce Plants to the Office

Not only do plants offer aesthetic appeal, but they are also natural air purifiers. As a natural process of their photosynthesis, plants absorb carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds (such as benzene and formaldehyde) into their leaves and roots. This process is called phytoremediation and it’s responsible for the clean air you’re breathing every minute of the day.

You don’t need to buy fancy air purifiers with HEPA filters. Simply decorate your office with these toxin-fighting plants to give your staff and patients a clean breath of fresh air. We recommend using spider plants, peace lilies, devil’s ivy, English ivy, and ferns.

#8: Switch to LED Lighting

If you haven’t already done so, it’s time to remove your incandescent or halogen bulbs and replace them with long-lasting LED lights. LED lighting uses up to 90% less energy than other lightbulbs and can be purchased in any temperature to create the atmosphere you need—warm or cool lighting.

#9: Incentivize Green Travel

How your staff members get to and from work might be making the biggest impact on your green initiative. If you have five staff members all driving their own cars, that adds significantly to your office’s carbon footprint. Encourage your staff members to make more eco-friendly choices when it comes to their commute by incentivizing green travel, such as:

• Comping gas money for anyone who carpools
• Buying staff monthly transit passes
• Setting up a bike rack outside the office

#10: Atlas Chiropractic Software

The most significant change you can make to becoming more energy conscious is to change the way your clinic operates on a daily basis, especially when it comes to patient communication and records management. Atlas Chiropractic Software makes it easy for you to transition to a paperless office by offering simple solutions like IntakeApp and SOAP Notes.

• IntakeApp
    o From the moment your new patient walks through your door, they’ll know and appreciate your eco-conscious efforts when you present them with their digital intake form on an iPad or through their email.
    o Their information will be effortlessly synched into Atlas, which saves time and paper, as well as eliminate data entry errors.
• SOAP Notes
    o No more bulky filing cabinets, no more endless printing. SOAP Notes lets you put all your patient information without having to use a single piece of paper. You can trust in Atlas’ software to keep your patient notes safe and easily accessible.

These are just a few of the benefits of having Atlas Chiropractic Software at your clinic. All our products are designed to be streamlined and paperless with the intention of helping chiropractic clinics reduce their carbon footprint while increasing their office efficiency.

Schedule a demo of our software today!