Committed to sustainable veterinary care and reducing our environmental impact.
Our Commitment to the Environment
At Sanderson Vet, caring for animals goes hand in hand with caring for the environment we all share. As a veterinary practice, we recognise that our work has an environmental footprint and believe it is our responsibility to reduce that impact wherever possible.
We are proud to have achieved Green Level accreditation with Investors in the Environment (iiE), recognising the work our team has undertaken to measure, manage and reduce our environmental impact.
Achieving Green Level is an important milestone for us, but our commitment doesn’t stop with accreditation. Sustainability is embedded within the way we work, with our Green Team, led by our dedicated Green Champion, continuing to identify, implement and monitor opportunities to improve our environmental performance.
What “Green” Means to Us
Sustainability isn’t a one-off project. It’s an ongoing process of measuring our impact, reviewing how we work and making practical changes that can have a meaningful and lasting effect.
As part of our environmental programme, we monitor areas including energy and water consumption, waste, anaesthetic gas use and our wider carbon footprint, allowing us to measure our progress and identify where further improvements can be made.
What We’re Doing to Reduce Our Environmental Impact
Reducing Waste
Veterinary practices generate a variety of waste streams, so improving how we manage waste has been an important focus for us. We are:
- Improving waste segregation and recycling across the practice
- Carrying out regular waste monitoring and bin audits
- Reducing unnecessary single-use items where appropriate
- Ensuring clinical and hazardous waste is disposed of responsibly and in line with regulations
- Using clear waste-segregation signage and ongoing staff education to help everyone make the right choice
Energy Efficiency
We monitor our energy consumption and have introduced measures to improve efficiency, including:
- Using energy-efficient lighting where possible
- Encouraging equipment and lighting to be switched off when not required
- Reviewing energy usage to identify areas where further reductions can be made
- Promoting energy awareness across our team
Water Conservation
We monitor our water consumption and continue to look for practical opportunities to reduce unnecessary usage while maintaining the high standards of hygiene and infection control required within a veterinary hospital.
Going Paper-Light
We continue to make greater use of digital systems to reduce unnecessary paper consumption, including electronic communication and digital clinical documentation wherever appropriate.
Sustainability in Veterinary Care
We recognise that veterinary medicine presents some unique environmental challenges and that sustainability must always be balanced with patient welfare, clinical standards and infection control.
Our approach includes:
- Responsible use of medications and consumables
- Reviewing our use of anaesthetic gases and promoting low-flow anaesthesia where clinically appropriate
- Using effective multimodal pain relief and local anaesthesia where appropriate
- Environmentally conscious sourcing where suitable alternatives are available
- Ongoing staff education around sustainable veterinary practices
Getting Our Team and Community Involved
Creating lasting change requires everyone to be involved. Sustainability is regularly communicated across our team, with staff encouraged to contribute ideas and take part in environmental initiatives.
We’ve also introduced activities such as our Environmental Day, helping us take sustainability beyond our day-to-day practice and encourage wider engagement with environmental issues.
Looking Ahead
Achieving iiE Green Level accreditation is not the end of our sustainability journey. We will continue to monitor our environmental performance, set new objectives and look for practical ways to reduce our impact year on year.
Our aim is to ensure sustainability remains part of how Sanderson Vet develops and operates, while continuing to provide the highest standards of care for our patients.
We are proud of what our team has achieved so far and look forward to building on this progress for the animals we care for, our clients, our community and the environment.