Here at Cave Veterinary Specialists, in Somerset we have introduced a raft of new green measures to transform the way the practice is run to increase sustainability and reduce our impact on the environment.
We have even set up a ‘green committee’ to monitor the implementation of plans and investigate further changes which could help diminish Cave’s carbon footprint.
Will McFadzean, who is leading the committee, said: “We are very serious about this and believe we can make Cave a far more environmentally-friendly business. We have put a detailed action plan in place to initiate change across the business to increase efficiency, re-use materials, embrace recyclable options and, in doing so, reduce waste. We’ve made some major changes and some more minor changes but, overall, it should make a sizeable difference to our impact on the environment
The key changes we have made are in a variety of different areas.
- Switching to low flow anaesthesia and ending the use of nitrous oxide gas will reduce the practice’s CO2 footprint by around 100 tonnes a year.
- Elsewhere, using microfibre colour-coded cloths, pre-soaked with vaporised peracetic acid instead of Clinell wipes, will save 8,000 wipes a month and £15,000.
- Use of theatre gowns has been reduced and the practice now has reusable theatre hats, wipeable clipping aprons and recyclable sterilisation packaging for theatre equipment.
- We now send zero waste to landfill.
- There’s more, and larger, recycling bins around the practice and we’ve introduced blue recyclable hand towels to replace the white, non-recyclable ones.
- All bottles used in pharmacy are recyclable and all new syringes are made from recycled plastic in a carbon neutral factory.
- We also have a paperless referral process and send certificates via email rather than on printed card, and our lab reports can now be accessed online.
- We are providing recyclable and biodegradable drinks cups and bamboo stirrers in reception. It’s a long and detailed list which illustrates just how determined we are to make a significant change in the way we work and our impact on the environment.”
