“No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little” – Edmund Burke
Earth Day has become one of my favorite celebration days. My happiest times are when I am out in nature with my family and my pets. Natural spaces provide a place to recharge and time to reflect on what really matters. I hope these places will always be available and protected for my kids and generations to come.
Actions to protect the environment are often framed as personal. Choices we make with transportation, food, where we live, and what we buy are very impactful. Choices businesses make can be even more impactful.
A tricky thing about choosing Earth Day actions is figuring out which are really good choices. Many of us are willing to act for the earth if the action is easy to do and understandable. But there are unclear decisions. Is it better drive further (using fossil fuel) to the grocery store that sells local organic food or to buy at the store selling apples from New Zealand that you can walk to? It is trickier still in a hospital setting to balance the need for sterility and infection control against the desire to minimize waste and environmental impact.
Earth Day Actions every veterinary hospital should do today
Here are 10 actions that are straightforward, easy, and also can save you money.
Earth Day Actions – #1: Use individual cloths rather than paper towels to clean counters, wet tables and cages.
Most veterinary hospitals spend a lot of money on paper towels. Microfiber cloths are relatively inexpensive, wash well and are fast to dry. They also have better scrubbing action and clean cage doors (a prime source of infection spread) better than paper towels. You can only use the cloth once on a dirty cage before washing for infection control reasons but the equation is still better for the environment. There is some question currently around microfiber specifically but reusable cloth is always best.
Earth Day Actions – #2: Change your default page set up margins.
The standard margins in Microsoft word are 1” all the way around. Changing your default page margin settings to 0.75” can change paper use significantly. If this was done nationally, it would save almost 4.56 million trees per year and save companies over $200 million dollars in paper costs. Of course, it is better still to also double side when printing and to avoid printing whenever possible.
Earth Day Actions – #3: Work with your veterinary distributor to decrease packaging.
MWI was able to deliver at least part of our weekly order each week in reusable plastic bins rather than cardboard boxes. Although cardboard is easy to recycle in many places, it still takes labor to break it down and energy to recycle. We found the plastic tubs easier to unpack as well as being better for the environment.
Packaging has a huge impact and often doesn’t bring any benefit. As food for thought, consider the following: In the mid nineties, Patagonia packaged long underwear with a cardboard insert and a plastic bag. By getting rid of the packaging, and simply rolling the underwear, and placing a rubber band around it, Patagonia avoided use of twelve tons of material that would have probably ended up in landfills and saved $150,000 in costs each year.
Earth Day Actions – #4: Use paper NOT plastic bags to send home supplies and medications with owners.
If you have a single medication vial, follow Patagonia and just rubber band it to the go home instructions. Plastic waste is a huge deal in our society. In February, a sperm whale was found dead in Spain and had 29 kgs of plastic in its stomach causing an obstruction. Anywhere we can decrease plastic, we should. You can purchase paper veterinary designed prescription bags from many suppliers. You can also purchase plain white lunch size bags and adhere a label or use a stamp with your clinic’s logo.
Earth Day Actions -#5: Commit to not buying water in single use bottles.
Globally, humans buy a million plastic bottles per minute. 91% of all plastic is not recycled. 480 billion plastic drinking bottles were sold in 2016 across the world. A filtered water station is something to consider in your lobby for clients. If you need to buy water, buy it in the largest container you can to minimize plastic.
Earth Day Actions – #6: If you provide eating utensils in your staff kitchen, don’t buy plastic.
Goodwill and Value Village are great sources of older dishes, glasses, and silverware that folks can use for their lunch.
Earth Day Actions – #7: Evaluate your surgery instrument packs for waste.
Several years ago, Virginia Mason healthcare system worked to simplify their surgery flow. They discovered that there were a lot of instruments in each pack that the surgeons almost never used. By rebuilding the surgery packs to only contain the instruments the surgeons really needed for each type of surgery, they cut instrument pack assembly and sterilization time by 42% and reduced their inventory by 26%. Not only did this process save time and money but it also made it easier for the surgeons to set up and get the instruments they needed. This again may not make a huge impact if you don’t have a busy surgery practice but should be highly considered in high volume veterinary surgery practices.
Earth Day Actions – #8: Recycle E waste.
Please don’t put your computer in the garbage. Use this tool to find an electronic recycler near you. Recycling a million laptops saves the energy equivalent to electricity used by 3500 US homes each year. One thing I recently discovered is that Best Buy will recycle many electronics for free.
Earth Day Actions – #9: Make sure all your office machines and hospital go to sleep when you leave for the day.
In primary care practices, make sure your computers, printers, copiers, fax machines are in sleep mode. Owner’s manuals have information on how to set this up. If you rent a larger copier, your vendor can help. In addition, lower your thermostat when the building is not occupied and that all your lights are off. These steps both help reduce energy usage and save you money in utility costs.
One interesting thing to consider is the use of “smart” power strips. You can purchase timer-equipped or even occupancy sensing power strips. This could even be a safety feature if you are using space heaters frequently.
More information about easy ways to save energy are available at this website.
Earth Day Actions – #10: Plant or buy a tree and use compost in your hospital garden beds. Plants are amazing that their ability to absorb carbon. In addition, studies have shown that indoor plants help with air quality and also decrease stress. In an incredibly interesting article, applying compost may increase the ability of soil and plants to absorb even more carbon.
Two hospitals I know have made true environmental commitment part of their overall mission. Check out other actions taken by Nashville Veterinary Specialists and suggestions from the owner of the first LEED certified veterinary hospital, Dr. Matt Rooney.
I hope you will join me in acting together for our planet this Earth Day.
Do you have other suggestions and ideas for ways to “green” your veterinary hospital? Please comment and share!
