PLASTIC bottles, cans, sandwich wrappers, crisp packets and cigarette butts were among the many items picked up by VetPartners colleagues as part of the UK’s largest mass-action environmental campaign.
The litter pick was organised by colleagues as part of Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean, which takes place between the 15th and 31st March and raises awareness of the environmental harm caused by litter and encourages the public to help tackle the issue by seeing how many bags of litter they can pick up.
Colleagues from VetPartners based at their head office in Clifton Moor, York, joined forces to tackle litter in the surrounding area to help keep the streets clean and waste free.
Twelve bags of rubbish in total were collected by the volunteers and four bags of items to be recycled. With the most usual finds including hubcaps and an air fryer.
VetPartners, which has over 450 practices across the UK, is committed to developing ways to ensure the business is operating sustainably. One of the ways we do this is by monitoring progress towards key sustainability targets which are outlined annually in the VetPartners sustainability strategy.
VetPartners Head of ESG Hannah James said: “We love doing litter picks every year as they’re a way we can give back to our local community that both our central support office is in and many of our colleagues also live in.
“To me, it’s an excellent example of ‘being the change you want to see in the world,’ whilst we haven’t caused the litter problem, we’ll take some action to solve it anyway because it benefits others around us.
“It’s also a positive thing to do environmentally. Litter is incredibly harmful as it kills millions of wild animals every year in the UK.
“Litter picking is an action we can take that has an immediate positive effect for people, animals and the planet, and there’s something quite satisfying about seeing the number of bags of rubbish that VetPartners colleagues manage to collect every year.”
Operations Director Tim Shearman, one of the litter pick volunteers, added: “In the midst of our busy working lives, I think it’s really important, if possible, to make time for team activities like these that benefit the environment as well as wildlife and the local community. Giving back, even if it’s just in a small way, not only helps others but also makes you feel good too.”
VetPartners was the first UK veterinary group to provide zero waste boxes for all of its sites in England, Scotland and Wales, and over the last three years, VetPartners practices have recycled 14,050kg of waste through TerraCycle, including surgical gloves, gowns and masks, and so far, 5,851,764 items have been saved from going into landfill.
The initiative, introduced in 2020, is part of the wider sustainability goals outlined in VetPartners sustainability strategy.
VetPartners’ progress towards our sustainability targets are published in the annual Sustainability and Giving Back Report, read the latest report here
Article written by Rachel Neill, VetPartners PR & Communications Executive. rachel.neill@vetpartners.co.uk