A Circular SportsFit

At SportsFit Physio & Health, we strive to be progressive not only in our care as practitioners, but also in our business practices for the benefit of the local community and environment in which we operate. Since the 2020 pandemic, the health and safety regulations in the health sector underwent many changes, which had a big impact on the way we had to run our business, particularly our cleaning procedures. We noticed a huge increase in the amount of waste being produced by our clinic day-to-day which motivated us to seek more sustainable solutions while still keeping our team and patients safe. 

This is why in 2023, we took part in the Go Full Circle program facilitated by Cirque Du Soil and supported by Stonnington Council, in order to learn about circularity and how we can incorporate this into our business practices. The Go Full Circle Program helped us to break down this waste issue into small, manageable changes around the clinic and to identify other areas that can improve. Formulating these smaller initiatives inspired us to work towards being a more circular clinic, so that we can have a positive impact on the environment and consequently, our local community.

So What Is Circularity?

True circularity is completely erasing the waste stage of a product or material’s life cycle. Traditionally, when materials are taken from the earth, they have a linear life – they are taken, used for a purpose, maybe recycled once or twice, then are discarded and put into landfill with none of their value retained. In a circular economy, materials have a circular life cycle – they are taken from the earth, used for their intended purpose, then recycled and reused infinitely, bypassing the landfill stage with the aim of retaining the most possible value at each stage of its cycle. 

Unfortunately, complete circularity is not easily achievable for every business in this current climate. But while it is not yet possible for us to go completely waste free, it is our goal to reduce it as much as we can. The Go Full Circle Program provided us with useful tools to achieve this goal, educating us on the 12 R’s – a list of alternative actions that we can take to procure, use, and dispose of materials and products so we avoid contributing to landfill.

A More Circular SportsFit

One of the first steps towards achieving our goal was to actually look inside our bins to determine what was filling them up. Once we had this list, the next step was to work our way through these items and where possible, make the switch from single use to refillable, reusable, recyclable, and compostable products. Our bins were the best indicator for measuring just how impactful our small changes were. Instantly, we saw a decrease in the amount of waste in each small bin at the end of the day and eventually, we were able to downsize our council garbage bin. Soon, the amount of waste in our bins had decreased even further and we were only filling our small council bin to about halfway by collection day.

So, what were these changes?

We started small by making simple approachable changes in one room, our kitchen:

• Switched from tea bags to loose leaf tea
• Replaced our flimsy plastic handled dish sponge with a longer lasting dish brush and washable dish cloth
• Introduced a countertop green bin to dispose of food waste (including the tea leaves)
• Educated all staff of the 12 R’s and how to keep circularity front of mind day-to-day:
  • Bringing a plate/mug to the café to get lunch or coffees
  • Bringing lunch in a reusable container to be washed and taken home
  • Being mindful when disposing of an items, taking note of what it is, and thinking about if that item can be swapped for something more sustainable or not used entirely

Then, we expanded our changes to the rest of the clinic:

• New bins in treatment rooms that separate general waste and recycling, with detailed labelling
• Switched all of our cleaning products to refillable products – purchasing longer lasting spray bottles/dispensers/containers and buying refill pouches or bulk cleaning concentrates to refill them
• We also make sure to choose biodegradable or earth friendly formulas (from more sustainable brands where possible)
• We got rid of paper towel (this took up the most space in our bins) and invested in:
  • Long lasting, washable cleaning cloths for treatments rooms and general cleaning that can be composted at end of life 
  • Electronic hand dryers for bathrooms
• Once paper towel was gone, we were quickly able to downsize our garbage bin, which left room for us to get a small green council bin to dispose of all organic waste separately
• Further increased our recycling efforts by recycling our pens, batteries, soft plastics
• Reusing, repurposing, and repairing old materials and equipment whenever possible:
  • Cardboard boxes (for storage or shipping)
  • Colourful toilet paper wrappers (for present wrapping paper)
  • Store scrap paper (to make notepads)
  • Repairing furniture and treatment beds
• Continue to be mindful and make behavioural changes at work:
  • Remembering to turn off lights and A/C units when leaving a room
  • Keeping A/C temperatures at the ideal effective but energy conserving temperature 
  • Turning off electronic equipment when not in use 
  • Minimise printing and avoid laminating where possible

Going Forward

We still have much room for change but are aiming to be as circular as we can as a clinic. We are in the process of changing how we procure products going forward so that we can further reduce our contribution to unsustainable practices. This includes finding product alternatives that come with more sustainable packaging and are made from recyclable or compostable materials, asking for more options and transparency from our suppliers, and supporting local businesses that are more circular in their approach than other competitors. We also dream of making bigger changes to our clinic to minimise energy loss and maximise the efficiency of our building.

But, part of having a positive impact is more than just changing our own practices. Our impact will be far greater if we can help to educate our peers and get our community involved as well. This is why we are going to be doing a month-long recycling drive each month with the aim of assisting our community to take their own steps towards circularity. We also want our community to help us by keeping us accountable – talk to us about our changes, ask us questions, and give us feedback on how we can be doing more!

The Impact

The impact of our circular changes have been on more than just the environment and we hope that this ripple effect will continue to expand. We can already see evidence that our changes have reduced negative impact on the environment, and have started to see a positive cultural impact within our clinic as a social and environmental purpose is being further built up amongst our staff. We hope to see measurable financial benefits in the future, with less single use materials being purchased, longer lasting products, and more energy efficiency saving us money over time, and we feel optimistic that maintaining our movement towards circularity will continue to attract like minded staff, clients, and businesses to our community who share our values and will help us achieve our goals.

While SportsFit cannot go entirely waste free yet, our main goal is to minimise it the best we can, and help our community to do the same. Every small act makes a difference, so we hope you will join us on our circular journey to do our bit to care for the environment around us and create a more sustainable future! 🌎