Sustaining

Sustainable Procurement: One of the Biggest Opportunities in Veterinary Practice

Climate change is no longer a future challenge; it's something we're experiencing right now.

This summer alone we've seen prolonged heatwaves, drought and wildfires and this is just here in the UK and these changes have knock-on effects for both people and animals. As veterinary professionals, we're on the frontline of caring for animals, but we also have an opportunity to think about how we can run our businesses more sustainably and do our bit to address these challenges head on.

Looking at the products and services we buy and consume within our practices is a great place to start, as every purchasing decision influences not only the cost of running a practice, but also its environmental footprint.

Procurement can drive sustainability across the whole practice

Sustainable procurement isn't just about buying products with a green logo on the packaging. It's about making informed commercial decisions that deliver value while reducing environmental impact.

That might include:

• Switching to a renewable electricity supplier.

• Introducing electric or hybrid practice vehicles where they're practical.

• Choosing suppliers with clear sustainability commitments.

• Selecting products with recycled, recyclable or reduced packaging.

• Purchasing concentrated products that reduce transport emissions and plastic use.

• Consolidating orders to reduce deliveries.

• Repairing equipment rather than automatically replacing it.

• Reducing expired stock and unnecessary waste.

• Working with suppliers who operate take-back or recycling schemes.

• Encouraging better recycling within the practice for cardboard, plastics and other appropriate waste streams.

• Making changes to reduce use of antibiotics

• Looking at how you can decrease the usage of fluorocarbons during anaesthesia

None of these changes alone will transform a practice's environmental impact, but together they can make an incremental and significant difference.

The commercial and environmental goals are often the same

One of the biggest misconceptions is that sustainability always costs more.

In reality, many sustainable procurement decisions also make commercial sense.

·      Reducing waste saves money.

·      Ordering more efficiently reduces administration.

·      Buying products with a longer lifespan reduces replacement costs.

·      Using concentrated products reduces storage, transport and packaging.

·      Working with suppliers who invest in sustainability often brings innovation and efficiencies alongside environmental benefits.

Done well, sustainable procurement is about improving both commercial performance and environmental performance at the same time.

Start by asking better questions

Every practice is different, but some useful questions include:

• Are we generating avoidable waste?

• Could we reduce the number of deliveries we receive each week?

• Are we buying products with unnecessary packaging?

• Have we reviewed our energy contract recently?

• Could our next vehicle be electric?

• Are our suppliers helping us meet our sustainability goals?

• Are we considering environmental impact alongside price when making purchasing decisions?

None of these questions require a complete overhaul of the practice. They simply encourage us to think differently about the decisions we make every day.

Sustainability is everyone's responsibility

I've always had an interest in sustainability, both personally and professionally. During my time in corporate practice I was fortunate to contribute to ESG initiatives aimed at reducing environmental impact across veterinary practices.

One thing became clear: sustainability isn't owned by one department. It isn't just facilities, finance or procurement. It's the result of hundreds of small decisions made every day.

Procurement just happens to influence many of them.

As the veterinary profession continues to evolve, I think sustainable procurement will become less of a "nice to have" and more of a business essential. Practices that make smarter purchasing decisions won't just reduce their environmental impact, they'll often become more efficient, more resilient and better prepared for the future.

What's one change your practice has made that has reduced waste or improved sustainability? I'd be interested to hear what's worked well.