The Mayne Veterinary Clinic: Our sustainability success story so far
By Lindsey Raven Emrich, RVN and Green Champion
The Mayne Veterinary Clinic is a small independent veterinary practice based in Colchester. We’ve been making pets feel better since 1981, and that’s just one reason why we’re such a popular family vet – we’ve looked after generation after generation of pets for local people.
We are all dedicated, experienced veterinary professionals, and we love what we do. It’s a pleasure coming to work every day, and our customers say it shows. Happy vets mean happy animals… and happy animals mean happy owners!
Passionate about protecting our planet
We are a modern, forward-thinking team with young families, so we all appreciate the importance of looking after our environment for our children’s future. As veterinary professionals, we pledge to care for animals, and an important way of doing this is by protecting the environment we all live in and depend on. Therefore, helping the planet and our pet friends truly goes hand in hand.
Getting started
Our green journey started back in 2019 with some small but impactful changes. We switched to 100% renewable electricity, conducted a radiator audit to ensure efficient heating, added draft proofing, and transitioned to LED lighting, all of which had a positive effect on reducing bills and electricity usage.
Our nurses swapped to using marigolds (washing-up gloves) for cleaning instead of wasting endless disposable gloves. We also switched to using old drip lines as tube ties and paper bags for clients instead of plastic ones. Additionally, we streamlined our waste recycling – every little bit helps.
Environmental accreditation
The next step was to join the ‘Investors in the Environment’ (IIE) scheme. This framework felt right for us, offering support, ideas, and encouragement. We saw its benefits in assessing our environmental impact and identifying areas for improvement. We started with bronze accreditation in 2021 and proudly achieved green status (the highest award) in 2024. We are committed to annual audits with IIE to maintain our accountability and transparency, keeping up with any changes in legislation and our practices.
Our environmental policy
An important starting point for accreditation is the development of an environmental policy and action plan. We identified the following key environmental impacts where we can improve in relation to our services, products and operations:
- Consumption of electricity, gas, water, and other resources through the running of our practice premises
- Use of volatile halogenated anaesthetic gases (isoflurane) during anaesthesia
- Waste generation and disposal
- Transport emissions (staff travel)
- Use of raw materials, including prescription drugs and medications
- Procured goods and services with their own environmental impact
You can read our full 2023/24 environmental policy here.
Developing sustainability
We set some ambitious objectives and goals to ensure continual improvement in our environmental performance. Here’s an overview of some key actions we’ve been working on since 2023:
Carbon neutral
By focusing on more sustainable ways of working in a veterinary practice, we initially reduced our carbon emissions by 15.2% in 2021 (compared to 2018), but we felt that we could do more. Using the Vet Sustain Veterinary Carbon Calculator, we calculated a new baseline for our carbon emissions in 2023 and are continuing our journey towards reaching ‘net zero.’
While continuing to work on reducing our carbon footprint, we signed up with Eco Offset to help us offset those emissions we just couldn’t completely eliminate by funding equivalent CO2-saving projects elsewhere.
Eco Offset provides a vital role in ensuring that the projects we invest in are verifiable and trustworthy. We have set ourselves very specific goals within our carbon offsetting project, ensuring that we balance enough investment in projects that will sequester carbon from the environment to the equivalent or above of the carbon that we produce. In addition, we like to invest where we can in projects that have the dual role of increasing education rates in children.
Some of the Eco Offset projects that we have funded include:
- Tree planting
- Providing cleaner, safer water to those in Cambodia
- Improving cookstoves in Rwanda
- Rainforest preservation in Brazil
- Renewable energy production
- Deforestation projects in Brazil
Not only have we offset the clinic and proudly become a carbon-neutral business, but we have also offset the carbon emissions of our staff and Pet Health Club members!
Waste & recycling
We’ve set up a fantastic staff recycling centre in our kitchen, and we make the most of our local council kerbside recycling, which covers the big four: cardboard, plastic, glass, and tins. For more specialist waste, we use the TerraCycle schemes and are constantly looking for ways to optimise our recycling process.
As you will read below, when choosing products, we consider a range of ‘green’ criteria, including recycled content and ease of recycling within our workplace and local community. Can it be reused, refilled, recharged, reconditioned, or upgraded? We also support local recycling by purchasing recycled products and encourage our suppliers to use recycled-material packaging that can be reused, recycled or returned.
Green procurement policy
Part of our Green iiE accreditation involved creating a Green Procurement Policy, which details our criteria for selecting products and services with minimal environmental impact that still meet performance, safety, and regulatory standards.
We understand that it might not always be possible to buy a green alternative for every product or service. However, we try to choose reused, refurbished, remanufactured, and recycled-content products whenever possible and organic or fair-trade items when practical. We also consider the impact of their production or extraction, look at energy consumption for any electrical equipment and ensure that products are not hazardous to humans or the environment. Good examples of this are our use of biodegradable cleaning products and energy-saving office equipment.
Travel plan
In 2022, we rolled out a sustainable travel plan for our team, incentivising walking, public transport, cycling, or car-sharing. Our team enthusiastically embraced these eco-friendly options, contributing to our reduction in carbon footprint.
Their commitment was perfectly illustrated in May of 2024 when we participated in the ‘Love to Ride’ challenge, collectively cycling an impressive 395 miles and saving 151 pounds of CO₂ in the process.
In 2024, we introduced a sustainable travel plan for our clients. We reward those who visit the clinic in an environmentally friendly way, whether it’s for an appointment with the vet or to collect their pet’s medication.
Clients are encouraged to let us know how they arrived at the clinic, and their names are added to our ‘eco raffle’ each time they visit. We hold a draw every three months, offering Beco toy prizes as rewards for their sustainable efforts.
Influencing change
Our green team projects
As Sustainability Champion, I’m responsible for the day-to-day implementation of our environmental policies, but I’m lucky to be supported by a great green team that is always coming up with ideas and a really supportive management team that is really open to our ideas.
When we started on this mission, we all made a ‘planet pledge’, and as a team, we regularly take part in green activities. Here are just a few of the activities we’ve gotten up to:
- Tree Maintenance 2024 – we assisted in a community project, removing plastic tree sleeves and wooden stakes, and picking up litter along the way.
- Love to Ride 2024– we cycled 395 miles and saved 151 lbs of CO2 in the ‘Love to Ride’ challenge.
- Litter Pick 2024 – we collected 19.5kg of rubbish throughout April.
- Hedgehog Highway – we installed a hedgehog highway in our Wellness Garden.
- Christmas Tree Planting – in 2023, we planted a tree for each pet in our Pet Health Club as a Christmas gift.
Working with suppliers
Another aspect of our green procurement policy is to look for suppliers with an environmental policy that matches our criteria. We can then encourage them to reduce the environmental impact of their products.
Educating our pet owners
In addition to examining the impact of our clinical work and the resources we use, we are trying to help our clients understand how they, as pet owners, can make more sustainable choices. We’ve started a series of sustainability newsletters, with in-depth information and support on topics which include:
Awards
We’re incredibly proud of what we have achieved and honoured to have received some fantastic recognition for the work we have done.
In 2022, we were shortlisted for ‘The Green Veterinary Practice of the Year’ by The Webinar Vet Virtual Congress.
In 2023, we were shortlisted for ‘Sustainable Travel Champion’ in the iiE Awards, standing alongside two big companies: Elanco and The British Veterinary Association (BVNA). Although we didn’t win, it was an honour to be recognised alongside those companies.
In 2024, we won The Webinar Vet’s ‘Small Green Practice’ award, and I was thrilled to personally win ‘Green Personality of the Year.’ Receiving these awards was truly humbling. It fuels our commitment to making planet-conscious decisions and inspiring others to do the same.
Looking forward
We believe that being sustainable will become easier in the future, but in the meantime, we are committed to continually monitoring our resources and making improvements where we can.
Our biggest plan going forward is to begin work with SageTech Veterinary who will provide us with apparatus to start collecting our anaesthetic waste gas to limit its release into the environment with a plan to (license approval pending) recycle these gases back into use.
Find out more about SageTech Veterinary
Our top tips for sustainability in your practice:
#1. Start small and keep it fun
Begin with small steps to avoid feeling overwhelmed and incorporate enjoyable activities to maintain team enthusiasm. Remember, the adage “every little helps” truly applies here.
#2. Engage your team
Present your sustainability ideas to your colleagues and encourage ideas and participation through friendly competitions.
#3. Lead by example
If you’re a passionate Green Champion, your actions will inspire others. Lead with enthusiasm and commitment.
#4. Enjoy the journey
Embrace the process and take joy in the positive changes you’re making.
If you’re passionate about sustainability and have any feedback or ideas to share with us, we’d love to hear from you. In the first instance, please email the team at NVS – cube@nvs-ltd.co.uk.
The article was originally posted in The Cube magazine, February 2025 issue. Click here to read the magazine.
