“The yogi reduces his physical needs to the minimum, believing that if he gathers things he does not really need, he is a thief.” BKS Iyengar, Light on Yoga
If you’ve read the ‘about us’ page on our website you will know that I wanted to be a Greenpeace warrior when I was about 9 years old and would go around the house inspecting for drafts under doors to see how energy could be saved and lecturing adults about the harmful effects of CFCs on our ozone layer! Yes, I actually did.
In this world of small business it is certainly challenging to find a balance between making decisions for survival purposes and saying no to unnecessarily producing waste. For example, in my yoga classes I have quite a number of students in their 50s and 60s, even a few in their 70s. Some of these students do not have email addresses, one I know does not have a mobile phone! So whilst internet advertising can be very effective and doesn’t use resources like paper and printing, it is very unlikely that any of these students would find out about my yoga classes via a Facebook ad. So I do print flyers. These issues come up in many aspects of the business and I do genuinely assess whether my conscience is going to be ok with my decisions to purchase or produce anything.
Here are some ways that we are attempting to reduce waste and conserve energy and resources here at Green Body:
- We don’t sell bottled water but instead provide filtered water and a glass if you forget your bottle. (We don’t mind washing a few glasses at the end of each day!)
- We don’t place items in bags or packages when you purchase them.
- We use cotton hand towels in the bathrooms.
- We purchase toilet paper from Who Gives A Crap who use recycled paper and donate 50% of profits to building toilets in third world countries.
- We minimise paper use with online sign-up and waiver forms.
- Our creche is made up of mostly second-hand donated toys and books.
- We even purchased our lovely wooden benches second hand from a local man who made them.
- Our gardens are lovingly filled with plant donations from clients, some found on the side of the road at council collection time and we have also rehomed some of the succulents from the front garden to our clients’ homes too!
- We have a herb garden out the back… our veggie patch has been neglected a little since our gardener fell pregnant!
- We use basic cleaning products and reusable rags or cloths for multiple purposes like all-purpose eco spray, washing up liquid, eucalyptus oil, bicarb and vinegar.
- We generally limit printing.
- We recycle as much as possible.
- We have a spare veggies tray in the fridge where we save odds and ends and try to use them up in our lunches, otherwise they go out the front and into our compost bin.
- We sell and encourage the use of re-usable cups for takeaway coffees.
- We don’t have a staff coffee machine so no coffee pods – we use a coffee filter instead.
- We do use the air-conditioning regularly but try to use fresh air and fans when Its warm and maintain heat when its cool by drawing the curtains and blocking the drafts.