Today, there are lots of businesses that are trying to serve their own causes, their customers’ causes, and also Mother Earth simultaneously. There are many examples of successful fitness clubs turning green and still showing great results in their businesses.

Being environmentally cautious isn’t an only limited to a large scaled company looking for carbon credits or be morally free and upright about environmental practices. You too can get creative and contribute to the nature by going green with your own small health club or training studio.

Health clubs are aptly positioned to make a great impact on the planet and its population’s health by encouraging sustainable healthy habits, and the frequent use of environmentally sound products, along with green energy. Given below are a few tips that can be followed to make your own health club greener and more environmentally conscious. These tips are something that you can start implementing today and will not cost your health club a fortune in buying solar panels or new energy reducing ellipticals ~ although these are still good ideas 🙂

Waste Not, Want Not

Sounds pretty simple right? Sounding simple is one thing, acting simply is something completely different. When you are in business, you will be naturally inclined to buy anything that you feel you may need in the future. Acting simply is easier said than done when talking about reducing the overall shopping you do for your health club. When you are a new business owner, you want to be prepared for anything. But preparedness does not always mean having the exact "emergency kit" to get you out of a specific jam, but rather having a devised plan and the strategy to implement it. Staying within budget and staying accountable to your purchases is a big step in the right direction. So what about that popular idiom, "waste not, want not"? Think about it, whenever you buy something for your business, and you practice analytical purchasing, rather than emotional purchasing, you will always have enough for when you need it.

Save Water

As a health club owner, you will need a steady, quality supply of water for the club and your members. Water is a very sacred resource for all of us. By reducing your water wastage, you can help contribute in a positive manner to the environment. For example, in your club’s bathroom you can install water saving shower heads, facets, and low flow toilets.

Promote and Use Locally Grown Food Items

Does your club have a juice or snack bar? If so this would be a great way to promote your local CSAs and farmer markets! As a health club owner, you should already know the importance of home grown food, and its positive impacts on the body. Locally grown fruits and vegetables are free of any chemical or hybrid components, and contribute positively to the local merchant community apart from the environment.

By getting locally grown food items you can get supplies at reduced fuel usage, and help in making the environment cleaner. You can get these products directly from farms or in stores in your locality by simply checking if a product is locally made or imported.

Reduce, Recycle, and Reuse

If you are in the middle of building out your new health club, you can start fresh and use only natural or low-environmental impact products, such as low volatile paints and so on. At this point is also ideal to install energy efficient windows and recycled rubber flooring!

Once your health club is fully operational, consider carrying only organic and ‘all natural’ products in your health club and your vending machines. By doing so, you are also contributing the health of your members.

If your club is a 24/7 hour operational facility but staffed only during certain hours, you can find a way encourage your member base to help you help the environment. You just have to give your members the means to do so. To start, you can have member controlled lights and TVs. Post signs around the gym and your other social media outlets and remind members to use electricity smartly and sparingly.

Green Member Promotions

In another blog post, I talked about the best gym locations being in residential areas. So, it is likely that your members are within walking or biking distance to your club. You can hold member incentives to those who walk, bike, or carpool to your gym!

Last but not least… Paperless Solutions

The less paper we use, the better for our trees ! One way to do this is by getting software that keeps you organized and reduces the amount of paper that your business’ operational use. Click here for more information on Insight’s software green solutions.

You and your members can make a positive impact on the environment by implementing these simple suggestions. Green is the new thing!

Topic for Discussion:

How does your fitness facility help reduce its effects on the environment?