How to Make Your Veterinary Practice More Sustainable Right Now 🌱

Like many others during the pandemic, I took to my (very tiny!) garden and threw myself into growing as much as I could squeeze in. The satisfaction of tucking into homegrown veg that hadn’t been shipped across the world and wrapped in layers of plastic was enough to boost my eco-ego temporarily.

But sadly, I don’t think a summer’s worth of home grown courgette, tomatoes and rocket are going to cut it. The guilt of churning out so much disposable waste at work, as well as knowing that we must go through a serious amount of energy running the place, has been niggling away at me.

When I ran a quick google search of how I could maybe begin to make the place just a bit more green… I came across a lot of dead-ends. It’s actually really hard to find some good accessible information about this. All I wanted was a few actions some colleagues and I could implement at ground level.

So I turned to my go-to eco hero Becky Sedman! Becky is a member of the Vet Sustain Practice Toolkit Committee and a small animal vet who is a Sustainability Advisor to VetPartners. She is passionate about educating the veterinary industry about the huge benefits of turning more green and how they can do that!

Being seen to act in an environmentally responsible manner is really appealing to clients, both existing and new!

Becky Sedman BVSc(Hons) MRCVS

Generous as ever, she agreed to share some great tips for how to make a difference in your practice, be it large or small animal.

She also made the really important point that being seen to act in an environmentally responsible manner is really appealing to clients, both existing and new! It could even tarnish an organisation’s reputation if they are not addressing the climate crisis we are facing.

Remember, the fact that millennials, with their high rate of pet ownership, are the generation who spends the most on their pets (Packaged Facts) and are also the most sustainability conscious generation yet, is not to be overlooked.

So have a gander – not all might be possible for everyone, but every step you make is a change for the better!

1. Form a green group, or nominate a sustainability champion

Use this group to share ideas, be the people the practice feed back to and make positive changes.

2. Recycle what you can

Are there enough recycling bins put out in your practice? Is there a recycling bin even in your break room for food packaging?

3. Make your outdoor spaces more wildlife friendly

Become a bee friendly practice (BBVA), put up bird feeders and boxes, or plant flowering plants in beds or pots.

4. Purchase reusable hats, gowns or drapes

5. Go paper free where possible

Encourage clients to consent to electronic communications. Alternatively laminate and re-use record sheets (urinalysis reports, anaesthetic charts, admit forms, dental charts etc.).

6. Purchase a water distiller to produce purified water

7. Ensure lights and computers are switched off at end of day

Make it protocol for last person in the practice. Put up ‘switch off’ stickers as reminders!

8. Replace old incandescent and fluorescent bulbs with LEDs

9. Make heating and cooling energy efficient

Heating should be set at 19-21^oC and air con at 20^oC.

10. Practice sustainable anaesthesia

Stop using nitrous oxide and practice low-flow anaesthesia.

11. Switch all plastic bags in dispensary to paper bags

Conclusion

If you’ve been spurred on by this article and you want more information, resources or to find out how you can get more involved in sustainability in the veterinary industry then check out Vet Sustain! Once again thank you to Becky who provided this fantastic content.

I’m feeling really inspired to get my own team at work on-board with making green changes, and I’ll let you know in future blog posts as to how we get on. If you have implemented any of these changes already or have some more ideas to add, please comment them below!