Busselton Vet Hospital - blazing a trail on recycling

Busselton Vet Hospital is a well-established, full-service, small animal veterinary hospital, located south of Perth in WA.

At the beginning of 2021, the team at Busselton Vet Hospital started to explore how they could provide veterinary services in a more environmentally sustainable way because they felt it was “important to do what they can to help our world find a balance”. By refusing, reducing, reusing, repurposing, repairing and as a last resort recycling, they have decreased the amount of landfill waste we create by 90%. This includes a recycling hub for their hospital and their community and the creation of an online ‘Eco Hub’ on their website to share their sustainability journey with their community and clients.

 

 

Here’s a few of the ways Busselton Vet Hospital were able to reduce our waste and help the environment:

  • Utilising medical waste recycling streams – bins for syringes, catheter/needle caps, PVC products (IV bags, lines), ET tubes, medical soft plastics
  • Composting – all paper products including paper towels, syringe/needle/gown packaging (they separate the plastic and paper for everything)
  • Being kennel conscious – composting unsoiled newspaper/cat litter, moving bedding with patients to save water washing multiple beds, using other bedding solutions.
  • Blister pack recycling – for human medications donated by clients.*
  • Kitchen awareness – worm farm/compost for food waste & tea leaves, compostable sponges, recycling coffee pods, REDcycle for packaging from the endless supply of chips and chocolates in every vet clinic.
  • Pet food bag recycling – signed up with Terracycle as collection hub for Royal Canin and Eukanuba bags and recycle Hills bags with REDcycle.

Visit their website to learn more about the eco changes Busselton Vet Hospital have made within their business over the last 12 months. 

 

Staff at Busselton Vets pictured with their recycling hub

Video and photo shared with the permission of Busselton Vets

 

*Consumers should always follow label directions for disposal of packaging. Animal Medicines Australia (AMA) is working with the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) to develop more sustainable disposal statements for inclusion on veterinary medicine labels that meet regulatory requirements and facilitate responsible waste management.