Vets practice goes green to help the planet
A veterinary practice which cares for pets in Northamptonshire has been recognised for its efforts to protect the environment.
Ash Tree Vets is celebrating achieving the Investors in the Environment (iiE) Green award for embracing greener ways of working that have saved energy and reduced waste at its surgeries in Desborough in Northamptonshire and Market Harborough and Kibworth in Leicestershire.
The national iiE scheme is designed to help organisations reduce their impact on the environment and become more sustainable, and Green is the highest level of accreditation awarded. Ash Tree Vets has already received the Bronze and Silver awards and its efforts were also recognised in the 2024 iiE Awards, where it was runner-up in the Best Social Impact category.
To achieve the Green accreditation, over the past 12 months the practice has lowered its carbon footprint by the equivalent of 1.19 tonnes of CO2 through reducing energy, gas and water consumption across the practices and has reduced pharmaceutical waste by 14% and anaesthetic gas emissions by 23%.
Among the green initiatives Ash Tree Vets has introduced are:-
- Turning off lights, computers, electrical equipment and radiators when not needed.
- Replacing lights with energy efficient LED lighting.
- Replacing windows at the Market Harborough branch with double glazing.
- Segregating waste and recycling as much as possible, including pet food packets, medical packaging and flexible plastic.
- Using fewer single-use products.
- Cutting greenhouse gas emission from anaesthetic agents by adopting low-flow anaesthesia techniques.
- Creating wildlife-friendly areas in the outside spaces at the practice and planting flowers to attract bees and butterflies.
Ash Tree Vets environmental initiatives are overseen by vet Nicole Dyer, who leads the practice’s green team. Nicole has also been recognised by The Webinar Vet by being awarded 2025 Green Individual Veterinary Professional of the Year in their annual Green Awards, for work she’s done within the practice and the veterinary profession to promote more sustainable pet care.
Nicole said: “It’s really important to us at Ash Tree Vets that we embrace sustainable ways of working and do as much as we can to protect the environment.
“We signed up to the iiE scheme in 2021 because the increased use of personal protective equipment during Covid made us think more about the waste we were generating and the impact the veterinary profession has on the environment. It’s a great scheme because it gave us a structure to follow and helped us to work towards making changes and document them. We have worked our way up from Bronze to Green accreditation and we’re hugely proud of this achievement.
“The whole team has been supportive and embraced the green changes we’ve introduced and it has become second nature for them to take apart any packaging and remove all the recyclable elements so we produce as little waste as possible. We’ve also taken part in litter picks and gardening projects at the practice and in the local community.
“Clients can also support us by returning any medication blister packs for us to recyle. By working together and even just making small changes, we can achieve our targets and help to create a more sustainable future for everyone.
“I’m also proud to have been recognised in the Green Awards, however this would not have been possible without everything we’ve achieved as a team at Ash Tree Vets.
Ash Tree Vets prides itself on delivering the highest standards of care to pets and an excellent service to clients. It is part of VetPartners, which owns some of the UK and Europe’s most respected and trusted veterinary practices and associated animal healthcare businesses.