Environmental Sustainability and North Coast Veterinary Services

At North Coast Veterinary Services we are looking for ways to make our veterinary practice as environmentally sustainable as possible.  This involves reviewing every aspect of our veterinary service to minimise waste and maximise reuse where ever possible.

Paperless billing. We use paperless billing wherever possible to minimise paper use in the clinic. The paper we do use is recycled paper, so that less natural resources are needed to produce it.

Recycling. We recycle as much as we can. Cardboard, polystyrene, plastics and glass are all separated for recycling. Our nurse trainee Katie is the internal recycling champion and is constantly urging us to close the loop.

Chemicals. North Coast Veterinary Services makes a point to choose cleaning agents that are designed with the environment in mind. Our washing powder, dish washing liquid, and hand soap are all chosen for its low impact on the environment. We also use a steam mop to minimise the use of chemicals within the clinic and keep the clinic hygienic at the same time.

Equipment choice has been motivated by the desire to maximise our sustainability. For instance our washing machine was chosen for its 5 star water and energy rating.

Infrastructure. Our building was purposely designed and built to minimise environmental impact. It is insulated and uses an optimised airflow design to keep down the need for air-conditioning and heating. Our water is managed with collection of rainwater to feed the gardens, septic and grey water systems to manage our waste water. Our cupboards were made using environmentally friendly materials composed of minimum 90% recycled particle board and minimum 90% recycled plastic coating. Even some of our soft furnishings and storage were re-purposed from other businesses to minimise furniture waste.

Looking outside our own clinic, North Coast Veterinary Services are using suppliers with sustainable credentials:

• Our Equine vaccines are supplied by Zoetis. They use Greencel technology in their shipping to minimise energy required to keep vaccines at correct temperature and the Greencel gets reused repeatedly.
• Our Elizabethan collars are also specially selected for their green cred. We have decided to use Greencol elizabethan collars, as they are manufactured with 80% recycled plastic and are 100% recyclable.
• We attempt to minimise road miles - our supplies are transported by ordering from suppliers based locally wherever possible.
• We have contacted our suppliers to find out what their environment sustainability policy are and are working to preference those with robust policies.

If you would like to discuss our sustainability policy or have any other ideas to help us tread lightly on this earth while helping the animals of the region, please feel free to contact the clinic.

• Posted 07 June, 2019

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