Make your dental practice more sustainable with Henry Schein
We all know how important environmental sustainability is, but finding ways to make your dental practice sustainable can be challenging. That’s why Henry Schein has launched the Practice Green initiative. We can help guide you to sustainable dentistry while continuing to provide high-quality patient care.
Transforming your dental practice into a more environmentally conscious version of itself might seem like a daunting task, or even unattainable, but with the Practice Green initiative, we have found ways to support, educate, and enhance the environmental efforts you can make. Keep reading to discover how you can become a more eco-friendly dental practice, without sacrificing patient care.
You’re already experts in helping patients, let’s find a way to help the planet too.
Support, educate and enhance with Practice Green
By now we are all familiar with the term ‘greenwashing’, and we all want to avoid companies and products claiming to be greener than they are. But tracking down the information you need in order to become more environmentally sustainable may sometimes take longer than you can afford.
The goal of the Practice Green initiative is not to wave a magic wand and immediately become a completely sustainable business – this is sadly impossible. The goal of Practice Green is to identify environmentally problematic areas, and areas where you can improve, and then develop an actionable plan to do exactly that.
Things we are doing at Henry Schein to increase sustainability include:
- We have a ‘paperless’ head office.
- Hybrid work models to reduce staff travel.
- Low energy lighting that uses motion sensors to avoid being left on.
- Staff have been provided with reusable drinks bottles to eliminate single-use plastic bottles.
- Air dryers in bathrooms to save paper.
- We recycle all possible materials.
- Our warehouse stretch wrap is now made from 30% recycled materials.
Find out more about what we have already done
It can be hard to know what the environmental impact of an action is. What’s the best way to dispose of biohazardous materials, or to check a patient into your practice? With the Practice Green initiative Henry Schein will help to provide information on the ways you can improve sustainability in areas you may not have thought about before.
Get started with your green initiatives
Kick off your promise to go green by changing little things around your dental practice.
Can you do anything to reduce the use of paper in your practice? Are you making sure to recycle what you do use, wherever possible? Can you limit the amount of single-use plastic your practice is using? Can you encourage and incentivise employees to use public transport, bikes, or car-pools on their commute to work?
There are lots of small steps you can take to improve the environmental impact of your dental practice; so why not start there and make a pledge to begin today.
What are our partners doing?
At Henry Schein we are actively seeking business partner solutions that can help our community work towards a more sustainable future. See what Mark Topley and Initial Medical can do to help your dental practice become more green!
Mark Topley
Mark Topley has extensive experience working to help companies of all sizes integrate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) into their business. In the dental industry Mark Topley is known as ‘The CSR Coach’, a leading consultant on all things ESG and CSR.
With the help of Mark Topley you could enhance your business’ sustainability practices, with a range of guides, plans, and training to get you started on your journey. With Mark Topley you can also become a part of the Responsible Dentistry Club, a monthly online guide to how to make your dental practice more sustainable.
The Responsible Dentistry Club breaks down going green into small, manageable monthly steps, which build over time, giving you a chance to earn Dental CSR Certification.
Find out more on the Mark Topley website!
Initial Medical
An extra consideration for dental practices that are trying to become more sustainable is healthcare waste..
The disposal of healthcare waste – both hazardous and non-hazardous – is governed by strict regulations. So, trying to find a more sustainable disposal method can be very difficult.
This is where Initial Medical can help. Initial Medical is a healthcare waste management company with years of experience, that offers bespoke solutions tailored specifically to dental practices.
Initial Medical can guide you through the entire process, from a survey of your practice to the installation of their recommended solutions for now and for the future.
Initial Medical can help you to make sustainable choices wherever possible in your practice. They can provide solutions such as sustainable waste containers, easy-to-clean mats that are made of recycled materials, and eco-friendly soaps to name just a few.
Initial Medical are included on the Euronext Vigeo UK 20 as one of the top 20 UK companies for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance, and the ESI Excellence Global index.
Find out more about Initial Medical’s sustainable waste management solutions!
Doing what we can, when we can
No one can attain total carbon neutrality overnight. What is important is that we start, and that we do what we can, when we can.
Henry Schein is here to help. We can provide you with information, ideas, and methods to make your practice more sustainable.
Together we can make a difference.
