Fenton Vets recognise the climate crisis and the need to include this in the bigger picture of how we run our business.

The veterinary industry is in the "hard to green" sector, but there is still plenty we've changed, and more we will do as we continue this journey. We are always open to suggestions and ideas from staff and clients alike.

Some little changes are easy: we've switched to bamboo toilet roll and bamboo paper hand wipes.

We now separate packaging, such as our sterile packs, to recycle the paper component and are happy to support products where this content predominates.

Other changes are more complex such as the environmental sustainability effects from clinical decisions on antibiotic or gas anaesthetics, but our awareness means we are taking initial steps in the right direction.

There are also governance hurdles: as a clinical practice we must adhere to various rules and regulations, especially in the dispensing of medications, but where we can, changes are made, such as the recycled paper dispensing bags.

The most visible changes we've made are to theatre PPE. Many of us remember the days before disposable gowns and drapes, but we now know better the whole-life environmental advantages to reusable, plus have a more advanced understanding of the sterile properties of those materials.

While clean single use gloves and masks go to the TerraCycle recycling team. Routine theatre PPE of gowns and hats are now material which is cleaned, sterilised and re-used. Theatre can now feel like a sea of green, topped with some fetching individual hat designs!