Practice Plan regional support manager, Louise Bone, highlights the efforts one Scottish dental group is making to do its bit to help preserve our natural resources.
As the cost-of-living crisis starts to bite, an unexpected benefit is more businesses showing a greater focus on doing more with less and preserving the resources we have.
To this Practice Plan customer, Infinityblu Dental Care & Implant Clinic, the idea of being more sustainable in the way they do business is nothing new.
Since he set up his first squat practice in Pitlochry in 2007, group owner, Chris Barrowman, has now grown the business to include 10 practices across Scotland. Aside from providing first class dental care, Chris encourages staff (now numbering 100+) to be responsible in their use of resources.
Recyclable and reusable
‘Some of the things we do may seem quite small, but they make a difference,’ marketing manager, Amel Salah says about their approach to being sustainable.
‘For example, any large display materials, where possible, are kept generic, so they have maximum use. Likewise with giveaways, we try to choose things that are recyclable or reusable. You have to be responsible,’ she adds.
‘Where you can choose to recycle, then you should make that choice.’
This attitude extends across all the group’s sites, too. ‘Some teams are choosing to act as a centre so people can drop off things like crisp bags to be recycled,’ Amel tells me. ‘This is not something that we’re asking them to do from the top, it’s something they want to do for their own community.’
Help communities
Amel sees many benefits to the teams who take part in recycling activities and the senior team has hopes to embed this into the culture of the group.
‘Doing things to help their communities and the environment gives the colleagues involved a real sense of reward,’ she says. ‘They feel proud to be able to do something to help.’
So far those taking part have been volunteers, but she doesn’t foresee any resistance to the ideas being rolled out across the group. ‘People can see it’s for the greater good,’ she says.
In addition to the efforts being made by individual teams, the group is supporting this by encouraging employees to travel more sustainably by signing up to the Cycle to Work Scheme.
Salary sacrifice
Employers registered with the scheme purchase bikes on their employees’ behalf and allows them to repay the cost monthly through their payroll. This is known as salary sacrifice.
As the monthly payments for the new bike are taken from the employee’s gross salary before any tax is deducted, they pay less tax and National Insurance every month while they’re paying off the bike.
This can save a basic rate taxpayer roughly 32% of the cost of the bike. The group also holds cycle to work days to encourage more people to leave their cars at home.
However, although reusing and recycling is important to the group, supporting communities is also a priority.
‘We’re not brought into this world to be alone,’ Amel says. ‘We function much better when we have a support system and a community.’
Grand plans and gestures
Recently the team have arranged walks such as the one from Killin to Callander. As Amel says: ‘It’s an opportunity for everyone to meet up and connect with each other and get some fresh air at the same time.’
The team at Killin, Infinityblu’s newest squat practice, also car share wherever possible. This helps reduce their footprint on the environment, while helping them to build close relationships in the team.
If these steps seem relatively small and simple, then that is Amel’s point entirely. Preserving our resources and our environment doesn’t have to be complicated and difficult. Indeed, it can be boiled down to the old acronym KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid).
Grand plans and gestures may sound great but, if they’re too grand, they may prove too difficult to sustain and could fall by the wayside. By choosing small steps, they’re more likely to stick and be easier to keep up.
As Amel tells me: ‘It’s not rocket science. Anybody can do this. We can all take part and make a difference.’
If you are interested in joining the team or finding out more about Infinityblu please email [email protected]
