On January 6^th 2020, Leeds City Council will be introducing the Clean Air Zone which, although directly related to commercial vehicles coming in and out of the city, has led us to think about how clean we are as a small business.

It is hard to avoid the desperate need to live ethically in a world threatened by climate change and so we thought we should share with you how we try to do our bit.

If you have visited our clinic, you may have noticed the couch roll we use for each patient. Each of these couch rolls, and in fact each of our hand towels, are made from recycled paper. Once used they are recycled to be given yet another lease of life. We are very particular about where our waste goes and by everything separate we can ensure that nothing ends up in landfill that could otherwise be repurposed or recycled.

Electricity is something that we need in the modern world to be able to run a business smoothly and effectively but electricity is also a major contributor to the increase in greenhouse gases which in turn are leading to global warming. But, without electricity, we wouldn’t be able to get much done in the clinic, especially being a basement building where we don’t get much natural light. We know that our demand for electricity can’t be avoided and so we have found an energy provider that sources 100% of its energy from renewable sources (such as solar power, wind power, biomass & landfill gas and hydropower). By providing natural soaps which are effective at low temperatures we can further reduce our energy consummation as we can achieve the same level of cleanliness without having to heat our water to high temperatures. All our uniforms are washed at low temperatures with eco-friendly soaps. This means that we can lower our carbon footprint.

With being in the centre of Leeds, it gives us many options of travel into work, with some of us opting to cycle into the city centre, park and ride using the local buses and take the train into Leeds station.

Some of these products and changes we have made are more expensive than the standard but we believe that they are a better option for us. They help us to do better for our climate without drastically changing the way in which we go about our daily tasks. As we become more aware of swaps that we can make, we reduce our landfill pile more and more.

Can you suggest any more ways we can lower our carbon footprint?