Eco Vets: Sustainability at the heart of the practice

Eco Vets is a new, independent, and eco-friendly veterinary practice located in South West London. When we started thinking of what we wanted our practice to be, we knew our practice not only had to reflect our professional commitment to the best animal care but also our personal convictions about environmental sustainability.

We have made it our priority to build a practice that can help pets while helping the environment. Being sustainable is at the core of who we are. When you think about it, some of the changes we have implemented are really easy to achieve and can have a huge impact on the planet. Here are some examples we have applied, that every clinic can be able to as well.

Our building

In terms of the actual practice, we have used Eco-friendly materials every time we were able to. Our outside sign has been re-used and hand-made by us using recycled wood. Our shop front and our consult front walls are made from glass, which is one of the most sustainable materials. Glass is 100% recyclable and reusable, it allows more natural light hence reducing the use of electric powered light. Our wall paint inside and outside comes from an eco-friendly company called COAT Paints.

Our suppliers 

We have carefully chosen our water suppliers with eco-friendly companies. After careful study, we chose Octopus Energy for our electricity, who buy 100% green electricity from 275 UK Suppliers. We also have changed all interior lights to low consumption LED lights.

Green hosting, also known as eco-friendly hosting, reduces the environmental impact of internet hosting by utilizing green technologies. We have teamed up with Green Geeks, they offer website hosting on a UK-based server located in a 100% renewable energy powered data center.

For our medical supplier, we have partnered with Covetrus. They have offset their on the road team’s personal carbon emissions and fleet mileage by investing in high impact carbon offsetting projects. They also plant a tree for every £250 that we spend with them. 

We have partnered with Mediclo for our Working Clothes. All our staff’s working clothes are made 100% from recycled plastic bottles.

We have partnered with Digitail, a Veterinary All-in-one Cloud Veterinary Software, that includes an App for Pet Parents. This App has helped us reduce paper. How? Every consent form is signed online via the App, every Invoice is sent through the App and every Quotation is also sent through the App. Just imagine the trees you can save implementing this change!

Products

When we do have to use paper, we use 100% recycled paper. Our dispensing envelopes and our bags are made of 100% recycled paper. The same goes for flyers, business cards, etc.

What we sell at the clinic is also important. We’ve chosen to sell sustainable pet treats, which all come in recyclable packaging. The pet toys we sell come from Beco, all made from recycled materials, and with strong sustainability values.

We have found some great environmentally friendly cleaning product alternatives for the practice. Learn more at ethical superstore.

We are also on a mission to reduce one-use plastics as much as we can. This can be a tough mission especially in veterinary, as many products such as needles and syringes have to be used and thrown immediately after use. But, there are some things such as dispensing bottles, where we always encourage clients to bring them back after using them.

Lastly, we recycle all of our waste: paper, plastic, and of course the specific hazardous waste accordingly. The company that provides collection of the waste, Albus Environmental, is also Eco-Conscious and Sustainable.  

Taking care of pets and planet

At the end of the day, we want not only to take care of our pets, but also take care of the planet in which we live. These are just a few examples of what we do to be the most eco-friendly we can. Luckily, it has been getting easier and easier to build an eco-friendly practice, since many companies are offering eco-friendly solutions. We encourage every clinic to implement at least 2 or 3 of these small changes, so that together we can build a more sustainable business.