Our commitment to sustainability
At Animal Trust we are committed to doing the best for our patients, but also to supporting the world around us. We are in the process of applying for B Corp certification, which cements our commitment not just to our patients, but to our community, staff and the environment.
As part of this, we have begun tracking our resource usage, with a commitment to reduce our water, gas and electricity usage by 2% in the next 12 months. We aim to do this by being as efficient as possible and by making careful choices when it comes to the products we use, to ensure that the quality of care for our patients remains high while enabling us to reduce our environmental impact.
Social inclusiveness and poverty reduction matter to us. We are efficient with the resources we have, and care about environmental protection and climate change. Click here to read more about our values
A more sustainable future
At Animal Trust we are consciously striving to reduce our impact on the environment, but there are areas of impact that we can't remove in order to stay functioning as a veterinary practice e.g. consumables, anaesthetic gas usage and heating. To try and reduce our impact as much as possible, we have invested in 100% renewable electricity, as well as investing with Ecologi to offset our carbon footprint of 342 tonnes of carbon each year.
Ecologi is a B Corp certified company that supports a range of carbon reduction projects across the world, and all are verified by either the Gold Standard or the Verified Carbon Standard, both of which set the standard for carbon reduction projects, making sure that they are effective and their impact can be quantified and certified.
Photo courtesy of Eden Reforestation Projects and Ecologi.
Becoming a greener veterinary group
Below you can find information on our yearly usage as well as our starting steps towards becoming a greener veterinary group. This isn’t an overnight change and will be a process evolving over the next few years but hopefully, these are our first steps towards a more sustainable future.
This chart shows the carbon footprint of the Animal Trust calculated from October 2020-October 2021. A large proportion of this usage is Isoflurane, which is an anaesthetic gas. We are working at improving our anaesthetic efficiency, from using more injectable anaesthetics alongside inhalants to rolling out equipment such as capnography to enable us to improve our anaesthetic care for our patients as well as allowing the use of low-flow anaesthetic techniques.
We have a zero waste to landfill policy, working with Veolia to improve our recycling percentages, and tracking these at each site each month. All our general waste is diverted from landfill to be used to create electricity to go back into the national grid. To read more about our Environmental Policies please click here.Â
Who we work with
Veolia
We work with Veolia to improve our recycling percentages, and track the progress of each surgery every month. All our general waste is diverted from landfill to be used to create electricity to go back into the national grid.
Ecologi
Ecologi help us to reduce our impact on the environment by offsetting our carbon footprint of 342 tonnes each year.
Triodos Bank
We partnered with leading sustainable bank Triodos Bank on a recent crowdfunding project to fund the expansion of our network of veterinary hospitals.
Lloyds Bank
Lloyds bank investment has allowed us to grow our business to ensure we can continue to support those communities that need us most. Their investment has ensured we can continue to grow sustainably, and invest in doing things the right way.
Idexx
We work with Idexx to provide laboratory services both in clinic and externally. Idexx allows us to provide advanced veterinary care whilst still having a strong commitment to corporate responsibility via the Idexx foundation.
Stericycle
We have recently partnered with Stericycle to help us achieve our zero waste to landfill goal. Stericycle manages our clinical and sharps waste, allowing it to be processed and used as an alternative fuel source, rather than ending up in landfill.
IMS
Through IMS we have been able to make sustainable swaps where possible in our clinics, from things like recyclable buster collars, to syringes containing 30% less plastic.
St Francis Group
St Francis group have helped us to identify and purchase new sites for development, helping us to bring the Animal Trust to more communities across the North of England and North Wales.
MWI Veterinary Supply
We are working with MWI to make sustainable swaps where possible for our consumable products in our surgeries. We now use 100% recyclable buster collars, pill pots and medication envelopes! Moving forwards, we're hoping to make further changes to reduce the environmental impact of our surgeries while maintaining high clinical standards of care for our patients.
Solopress
We use Solopress for most of our printing requirements. Where possible, we always use options from their eco-friendly Green range, which uses sustainably-sourced materials. They also invest in carbon offsetting to neutralise their impact on the environment.
Clicky Media
Clicky helps us with the digital side of the business, and they are part of the 1.1.1 programme. They are also a carbon neutral business, making them the natural choice for the Animal Trust to partner with.
Ethical IT
Ethical IT help support Animal Trusts IT services. They are a carbon neutral company who embraces the 1% for the planet ethos.
