D&T Green Team members Sarah Sheppard and Diane Royle proudly displaying their silver award certificate from national accreditation scheme Investors in the Environment.
Staffordshire Vets Celebrate National Environmental Award
4 months ago 
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Team members at popular Staffordshire vets Donnachie & Townley (D&T) are celebrating after earning national recognition for their work on reducing waste and increasing sustainability.
The Linnaeus-owned practice, which has branches in Rugeley and Stafford, has been awarded a silver award by national eco-campaigners Investors in the Environment (iiE) after achieving big reductions in the use of anaesthetic gasses, water, electricity and gas as part of an ongoing sustainability initiative.
D&T registered veterinary nurse Diane Royle is the practice’s green team lead, working alongside clinical director Sarah Sheppard and patient care assistant Sophie Wood, and she said everyone was delighted by the success and are keen to do even better in the future.
Diane said: “We are thrilled to receive this award after all our hard work and the highs and lows of the challenges involved. It really is amazing to be able to share this success with the team and the community.
“We particularly focused on cutting our use of isoflurane anaesthetic gas and succeeded with a 27 per cent reduction, while still maintaining the same level of general anaesthetics performed.
“This was achieved through education of the team on low flow anaesthetics and the procurement of additional multi-parameter monitors to enable these low flow techniques to be performed safely.
“We have also managed absolute reductions in electricity, water and gas, exceeding our initial targets.”
Diane also highlighted the immense efforts D&T staff have taken to minimise their own impact on the environment, not just at work but at home, too.
She added: “The whole D&T team has always been very responsive and supportive of our sustainability journey and it has always been a true team effort.
“For example, we scored 100 per cent in the waste management section which was helped by staff now recycling everything on site from crisp bags, pens, pet food pouches, coffee pods and soft plastics.
“The team is also involved in various projects such as composting their own food waste on site and using this compost to grow bee friendly plants, which we then donate to the public.
“They’ve also organised fun runs to support the Blue Cross pet charity plus multiple cake and craft sales to raise funds for sponsoring donkeys in sanctuaries, to build a beehive and to purchase and upkeep cows, goats and chickens for a farming scheme in Africa.
“This on-site culture shift has led to the team continuing these green changes at home, and all the staff would agree that it has been a full culture shift, rather than just a project.
“Many team members have reported they have saved money on their own utility bills after getting into the habit of turning off lights and electrical equipment following our “Paws to turn off” campaign on site.
“It really is a win-win situation. It is fantastic to gain the iiE awards but it is also this positive feedback and the cultural changes that please us as much as anything else. We like to feel we are truly making a difference.”
Diane, Sarah and Sophie are now keen to build on this latest success and are confident the D&T team will again deliver as they now strive to gain the ultimate iiE recognition, a coveted Green award.
Diane added: “We are aiming for the top Green award in our next audit. We are in a great place to push this forward and, as part of achieving the next level, we are aiming to monitor an additional resource, our paper usage across the sites and bring this down as much as possible.
“We believe we can make a real impact and are already looking at ways we can make reductions to cut our carbon footprint even further while also increasing our sustainability.”
For more information on D&T Veterinary Centre, visit https://www.rugeley-vets.co.uk/ or search for the practice on social media.
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