Reduce, Reuse and Repurpose

Colleagues are encouraged to consider any sustainable changes we can make across our locations and, as expected in an employee-owned CIC, their engagement is fantastic with ideas positively flowing in.

Reducing responsibly

Big or small, every idea makes a difference – for example, suggestions now introduced throughout Smile Together have included:

Purchasing environmentally friendly cleaning products, washing up liquid, dishwasher tablets, washing powder and fabric softener for our in-house laundry service plus recycled/sustainably sourced toilet rolls and biodegradable teabags

Reducing single-use plastic by:

Giving every one of our colleagues a reusable Smile Together water bottle and coffee cup

Using 100% compostable bags made from potato starch for our oral health donation packs – these break down to leave just three elements, carbon dioxide, water and biomass in a little under three months

Significantly reducing the use of plastic cups, cling film and plastic sheeting in surgeries, whilst not compromising patient safety

Using self-adhesive paper parcel tape instead of the standard parcel tape as not only is it made in a more environmentally friendly way, it is also biodegradable

Reducing in-house printing by 19% since 2021 with the bulk of commissioned print procured from St Austell Print, a local carbon-balanced printing company,using environmentally-friendly stock

Unwanted Items

Whenever we upgrade something for our business or personally, we collectively try to rehome any unwanted items:

Warm clothing donations from colleagues are gratefully received by Cornwall Health for Homeless during winter health inclusion pop-ups

We’ve donated dental and technological equipment to Dentaid, ComputerAid and local schools

Having rolled out new uniforms to clinical colleagues in 2021 we donated 130 pairs of trousers and 25 unbranded tops to jacobswellappeal.org destined for Sierra Leone