Going #Green in a Dental Office

More and more offices are making an effort to go "green" and consciously use less energy, recycle more, release less waste and use less toxic ingredients or materials. There are benefits to less waste or non- toxic for both the Office and the Patients, and when you add saving money it gets even better!
In our office we use recycled paper throughout the office, from the printing paper to the  towels in the bathroom. It just takes a few searches to find a supplier that offers the same price for recycled paper, so it doesn't cost more.
We also store all the documents digitally (we are a "paperless office") so there is less printing and scanning. Our Fax acts as attachments in our emails, so no paper is used there either (for Millennials: a fax is the old school way to send pictures and documents, way before emails, messages and Dropbox). So less paper used means saving money, it's not much but it adds up.
We have a Recycling Bin in the office for all the bottles and cans that we take to the center once a week, when the bag fills up. Again, we only get a couple of dollars for that, but it's still free money.

One of the biggest environmental problems is all the plastic that ends up in the oceans. How many times have we seen pictures of birds or sea lions with bags and plastic boxes trapped around their bodies and felt helpless because we couldn't do anything to help them? Well, we can actually and we do! In our office we only use compostable trash bags and coffee of water cups. They cost a couple dollars more, but read above about how we saved a few dollars recycling the bottles. We don't see paying a couple dollars more as a problem when it comes to being responsible about the world we live in. We are determined to offer our Patients the best service and non-toxic options and materials, and we do that in the waiting room too. BPA-Free and compostable hot content cups might be a couple of dollars more per box - but our reputation is worth way more than that! And if saving a couple of bucks is your most important criteria when ordering supplies - then maybe your business strategy needs some readjustments.

We only use LED lights throughout the office, since they use less energy and we wanted to get rid of all the mercury based fluorescent tubes. We love the bright, refreshing light we have in the office now and our Patients love it too, glad we moved away from that faded, almost gray light we had before, it was too sad for an office that promotes Brighter Smiles! If only one Patient prefers our bright, positive light in our office over an old looking office nearby - it was all worth it for us!



Last, but not least important is the amalgam separator and the waste filter we use, that most counties and cities don't require and most dental offices don't have. But we wanted to make sure that none of the toxic waste ends up in our City's drain and ultimately in the ocean. Think about this next time you take you kids to the beach and they enjoy swimming in the ocean, isn't it worth it to make sure that water is clean?
We also use non-toxic cleaning or disinfecting products, including the hand soap in the restroom or the essential oils we use for a pleasant perfume in the office.
It makes a difference with the patients who care and since it's not a cost issue -why not do it? Going green is beneficial for our Patients, for our staff, for our City and our environment, but must important for the legacy we leave to our children.
For more info please visit our website at http://www.AlisoViejoDental.com/