As veterinary caregivers, animal health and welfare is at the centre of everything we do. Unfortunately, it's hard to do this important work without impacting the environment - from water use and waste production through to greenhouse gas emissions and chemical pollution. And if we are caring about the animals, we also need to care about their environment as they too will be impacted by climate change. 

The good news is there are many simple, practical solutions that vet teams can implement to benefit patients, people, profitability and the planet! 

We are a pilot clinic in the Climate Care program learning how to reduce our clinic's impact on the environment. 

Our learning so far:

*Water wise: we have made simple changes such as turning off the tap when scrubbing for surgery, and managing our laundry loads better, so to reduce our water consumption in clinic.

*No time to waste: we segregate recyclable items from our waste, and have also invested in a FOGO bin which not only composts our food waste, but also pet fur, pet droppings, and paper towel waste.