A Guest Blog by Lucy Nowell – Vet and Director at Station House Vets
I am a vet and director at Station House Vets, a small animal and equine practice in North Yorkshire, and I am also part of the BSAVA’s Sustainability Working Group. Sustainability is a hot topic, so this article will cover a few ways that we have made our practice more sustainable, which will hopefully give you some ideas of how to implement sustainability within your own practice!
We are about to submit for investors in the environment bronze accreditation so have been collecting resource use data, have a waste management plan and a dedicated green team. This was inspired by the flurry of articles in the veterinary press from around 2021, including those in BSAVA Companion magazine, and also coincided with our purchase of the business.
We have a strong ethos of trying to purchase quality equipment and maintain it – whether an ultrasound machine or washing machine. Our washing machine and dryer should outlive us now! We use washable drapes, mob caps and surgical gowns, though fenestrated drapes are proving harder to source now. We have invested in new anaesthetic equipment and team training, to allow lower flow anaesthetic techniques and use adjuncts such as local anaesthesia, CRIs and enhanced anaesthetic monitoring.
I recently completed a carbon literacy course with Vet Sustain which was excellent, both for the content and communications with the other delegates on the course. As a result, I think communicating with the public is an important function alongside the initiatives within the practice.
During the winter we put up bird-feeders including a window feeder visible from our waiting room which is a great conversation starter and a real delight. We now have a bird ID guide available for everyone to refer to.
We have left large areas around the site un-mown for two summers now and this year were rewarded by 10 Bee-orchids in a lawned area surrounded by trees and hedges. To make the most of this we had some our team meetings outdoors when weather allowed and regularly examine animals in this area, starting conversations with owners. We also have a lot of flowering plants in the beds bordering the clinic and bird and insect watering stations (and water-butts).
We regularly communicate about sustainable pet ownership – in written articles on each species for a local ad magazine, via social media, and soon to be included in new pet packs. This includes feeding, toys, and accessories – what pets really need (a cardboard box in many cases!).
We also try to make individualised parasite prevention plans according to lifestyle and educate owners on bagging and binning waste, and correct disposal of pharmaceuticals.
Overall, it has been really great to see these initiatives come to life and to see the outcomes of them as we work towards our Investors in the Environment accreditation. Some of these have been really small and manageable changes, so I hope you feel inspired to be more sustainable wherever you are in practice across the UK.
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