Currently, sustainability is of paramount importance. For those who have worked in any type of medical profession, it's no surprise how much waste can accumulate in a place like a vet hospital: animal waste, syringes, rubber gloves, and paper for days; just to name a few. Although it may be easy to turn a blind eye to the degradation this waste causes, our obligation to the wellness of animals and our environment should be our foremost ambition, and not just the animals who come into our clinic, but the ones thousands of miles away, swimming in oceans contaminated by trash and waste.
Doom and despair aside, there is a light at the end of the tunnel! All it takes is a little conscientiousness and care to foster an eco-friendly business. Family and Friends Veterinary care is dedicated to making sure our carbon “paw”-print is as minimal as possible. FAFVC has taken the ClimateWise Pledge through the City of Fort Collins! This pledge can be made by any Ft. Collins business and it entails a simple commitment to making sure your business takes a few simple steps to staying green: each employee may bike to work at least once a week, inefficient light bulbs are replaced with LED’s, proper recycling practices are observed and carried out, needles and prescription medications are disposed of properly, toilets are replaced with more efficient ones, minimizing water consumption, among many others. Family and Friends Veterinary Care is also a paper-lite business, only using paper when absolutely necessary. Many people still prefer hard, paper copies of their documents and records to digital ones and unfortunately, there are certain documents that must be printed out on paper, but even reducing typical paper consumption by half is a landmark in sustainability.
Ultimately, there’s still lots of work to do towards creating greener businesses and a greener pet community. Approximately five billion pounds of clay is mined in the US for cat litter, and the dogs in the US produce around eleven million tons of waste every year! We’re obviously not about to go and stop owning pets because of the waste they produce, but awareness is key in developing solutions to the pet waste problem. All it takes is a couple steps in the right direction; riding your bike instead of driving, scooping your cat’s litter instead of just changing it, maybe investing in bio-degradable poop bags for your dog, buying a reusable straw instead of using plastic ones, and the list goes on and on. We care about our animals and our community and in this day and age, where populations become dizzying and towns turn to cities overnight, its imperative that we do the best we can to preserve our beautiful and delicate earth.
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