Sustainable Vet Practices - 6 easy to implement differences you can make in your vet clinic in 6 months - 052

052 - CeeJay Donovan - Massey Vets - Sustainable Vet Clinic Practices

[00:00:00] Welcome to episode 52 of paws, claws, and wet noses. The vet podcast, celebrating all creatures great and small, and they're fantabulous professionals who look after them all. That's you, I'm your show host Julie south. Can you believe that? This is episode 52, which means that paws, claws and wet noses as turning one.

[00:00:32] Wow. I'm excited. I really am. I'm excited about today's guest because it's a continuation of the sustainability series. And this is the third episode in the series today. I chat with CJ Donovan. Who's from a Massey Vets in Palmerston North.  For international listeners, it’s the on-campus clinic of the Veterinary Science Faculty of New Zealand’s Massey [00:01:00] University, which is where our vets study and qualify.

[00:01:03] CJ has a Bachelor of Veterinary Technology from Massey, a Certificate in Science and Technology from Massey as well as a Certificate in Captive Wild Animal Management from Unitec in Auckland. 

If you've listened to the previous two episodes on sustainability and I'll put the links for those and the show notes, the episode page for this episode, which has Paws Claws Wet Noses dot fm.  I'll put the links there.

[00:01:33] As I was saying, if you'd listened to the last two episodes on sustainability, you'll have heard CJ's name mentioned a few times, especially in relation to their social media. That she's kicked off with Sustainable Vet Practice - NZ. 

That's the official name of the communities that you can find on Facebook and Instagram.

[00:01:55] So go follow and connect there today. [00:02:00] CJ and I talk about what she has achieved and is doing at Massey Vets to make a planetary difference. And she, she is her six easy things to do and six months, which she kicked off at Massey Vets. 

So she talks from experience and what she learned while she was doing that.

[00:02:18] I also asked her about some of her big picture goals, such as finding a way to compost cat poo, without exposing the environment to toxoplasma. Is there a way that you can capture and reuse your anaesthetic gases, and what's she doing in regard to responsible antimicrobial disposal? As you'll hear CJ say more than once one person can make a difference.

[00:02:46] And talking of making a difference. Although I hate to say it, it doesn't feel like I'm making very much difference at all at the moment my petition closes this week. If you haven't signed it yet, please do so, because seriously, [00:03:00] it really is critical that this with visas can get into New Zealand without having to play the MIQ lottery game of chance.

[00:03:08] And you can sign it. Get2VetsNZ at Facebook or tinyurl.com/get2vetsNZ – 2 is the number 2. So thank you heaps for doing that first time. This episode, I'm doing something a little different, right? At the end. If you're interested, you can listen into, on the chat there. CJ.

[00:03:34] Head after we wrapped everything up, if you're interested. So stay right to the end for that. As always, the links mentioned in this episode can be found at paws claws, wit noses dot, if IM and all vet all my father, when he was a student in Glasgow, he said, if you want to be a success in veterinary practice, Just keep the bowels open and just arrested.

[00:03:59] [00:04:00] God. Nutrition is not an opinion. It's a science. They called me that weird herbal needle that, and I just remember thinking, well, I'm still going to do it because I know it works. And I've got the research to back it from reminiscences of the real James Harriet son to P nutrition, to acupuncture the big podcast, discusses current animal health issues from around the world.

[00:04:23] Um, veterinarian Brian greeter from New Zealand, just search for the fit podcast. Wherever you get your podcasts from

[00:04:33] pause, claws and wet noses is sponsored by vet staff. If you've never heard of it, staff it's new, Zealand's only full service recruitment agency. 100% dedicated to the veterinary sector fit staff has been around since 2015 and works nationwide from Kate Wrangler to the bluff. And everywhere in between as well as helping Kiwis fit staff, also hubs overseas, qualified [00:05:00] veterinarians find work and RTO and New Zealand fit.

[00:05:04] staff.co dot. Indeed. Have you always been sustainably minded or was there one incident or one image or one event where you thought something's got to change? I actually have not always been sustainably minded and it wasn't until my friend Kat Johnson gave me a gift of some beeswax wraps that I just thought, wow, that is such a cool gift.

[00:05:39] These are really lovely. Like I love the patterns. They're really practical. Why the heck am I still using plastic rat? And then it just sent me off on. Thought process of, well, that was really easy. Like, is there other stuff that I could just change that would be that easy and it really started this whole thing.

[00:05:59] [00:06:00] So I kind of really owe it to her. And it's really made me be a lot more thoughtful about the gifts that I give people too. And just in case it sparks a journey for them. How long ago was there? That was only. Two or three years ago, you're doing a lot at MSCI visits for sustainability. You founded a group called the green team.

[00:06:23] What is that? Yeah, it's I hate the name now because you feel like you want to make sure that there's no affiliate political affiliations, but it's sort of a. The snowball effect its own thing now. So we can't change the name, but when I had sort of gotten to this equilibrium with my own sustainable journey, I thought I better start extrapolating this similar work life.

[00:06:50] And ironically, I work in the anesthesia department, which I think is probably the most wasteful department you could work in in terms of [00:07:00] disposable consumables. And so I just started to think what are some things that we could be doing? At the clinic, easy low-hanging fruit. And then I thought if I just get a group together of like-minded people, two minds a bit, and then one, I actually got a great response.

[00:07:18] It turns out there are a lot of people out there who kind of want to do something, but aren't sure how to start. And so starting this group gave us this jumping off point, and now we have regular meetings. Come up with all these great ideas. And there's a lot of people who can help me with the different things that we're doing to make sure that the loads, not just on one person.

[00:07:44] And as I said, it's just kind of taken off. And luckily we have a lot of support from management. I'm so grateful for that. We have done a lot of good and we're doing more things all the time. It's really exciting. How did you start the original conversation? [00:08:00] What were your first steps? All I did was send out a group email to the, to everyone in the clinic and just say, Hey, I noticed there's a, I get here.

[00:08:10] If you have a similar mindset to me and you want to make some positive change, let's get together and see what we can come up with. And the first meeting was kind of clunky and I didn't even know a lot of the people who showed up. So it's been really cool for getting to know some of the people. We have a lot of people who work here.

[00:08:27] Offices who are lecturers, who don't work on the clinic floor. So a huge building. And so it's been great for collaboration and we really just kind of started coming up with ideas and, and implementing them. It was really easy, actually. Is this just within the messy VIT science group or is it broader than that?

[00:08:48] Yeah, so we have the school of veterinary sciences, which encompasses the vet clinic as well as all the people who work in animal welfare and lecturers [00:09:00] and teaching. And so it's the whole school. A couple of hundred people, or we haven't had a lot of support from central, messy sustainability as well.

[00:09:09] You've got six things to do straight away. Is that correct? Yeah. We stole this idea from the messy library who did 10 things in 10 months that you can do for sustainability at work. And I think. Well, I'm going to be a little bit more realistic and dry for six things in six months. And every month for the past, we must be up to the fifth month.

[00:09:34] Now we just have a focus and we're sharing information from the green team to the school as a whole. Every week you get an update and we use the, we use SharePoint a lot and so people can go on there and like comments as well. I think the first, the first month was about saving energy and we turned that into a competition because that was.

[00:09:59] [00:10:00] People involved at a little bit of competitiveness to it. We sort of sectioned off sort of the admin staff from the vet clinic to the equine vet clinic and sort of separated everyone out into their departments. And then we use the meters to, to judge how much everyone had saved. Wait by. And then by the end of the month, the winning department got a few spot prizes.

[00:10:26] And of course it was the smallest clinic. It was my department. Of course, who ones? Of course, of course did. Was they that raped? I promise. Do you change any bolts? Any powerful. Yes. That's actually something we've been doing for a while already is any light bulb that needs replacing is now replaced with led bulbs.

[00:10:46] So it's sort of a slow process happening throughout the building. We have also installed sensor lights so that if an area is not being used. The light is turned out. People were turning off their [00:11:00] computers and monitors. That was a big way that a lot of people saved energy as well. The main thing is really just making sure that heaters and lights are turned off in the room when you leave.

[00:11:10] And I think that was the biggest thing that we could do. It's created some really good habits, so people are still doing it and it saved us money. And you can't really lose. Are you able to share, or do you know how much you said. Well, like I said earlier, I'm not really a detailed person, but it was in some kilowatt hours, something I didn't even hadn't even heard of before I learned more about energy measurements than I ever thought I wanted to know.

[00:11:38] So that was month one. Yeah. In July we did a focus on recycling. Really? Just how recycling. Not really an answer and is probably a waste stream that we should be working to minimize, but just trying to educate everyone on how to recycle properly, you know, what numbers are accepted in our area, making sure that everything's [00:12:00] clean and avoiding contamination in August, we did a change up your computer.

[00:12:05] Where we encourage people to walk or bike or carpool. And that really got derailed by the lockdown, but in a way it was a win because absolutely no one was commuting to work during that time in September, we focused on composting because we have some organic bins around the clinic that we use for food waste, but also for, we do compost our dog.

[00:12:29] And we have compossible dog poop bags, which I think was a really, it was one of the first things we did. It was a really easy thing to switch away from plastic dog poop bags. And we also started the process of composting our cat poop because we wanted to. Move away from disposing out, try and think of a bit of way to dispose of our cat poop in a more responsible way, in terms of, of the toxoplasma.

[00:12:54] We found some research that supports the fact that Bokashi [00:13:00] fermentation kills the toxo. And so it turns into a harmless liquid that can then be composted. So we still haven't got that up and running yet because there are actually, this requires a little bit of DIY for the volume of. Cat poop that way through.

[00:13:16] And then this month we're talking about reusable coffee cups because let's face it in our industry. Everybody needs their coffee. And so we're trying to get everyone, encourage everyone to use the reusable coffee cups. And then next month, we're just finishing on bringing a plant towards. Which is kind of a cute one.

[00:13:34] And there are some people that are already propagating their plants and preparation for this. And, uh, we're looking at getting some catnip plants for the clinic and working out how are we going to keep them alive in all this artificial light, but it's really exciting. It's gotten everyone involved and engaged, adding the competitive side to it has really increased engagement as well.

[00:13:55] And thankfully, having that support from management has meant that every month we've been able to give [00:14:00] away prizes for people who have. Been nominated for the participation. So I think it's a really great way to launch a sustainable mindset in your clinic. Be something like this from learning about something called kilowatt hours.

[00:14:19] What surprises have come out of this for you? I think I was honestly really surprised at how keen everyone is to embrace this. But just not having the ability to, to do it or having this platform. And so creating this green team movement has encouraged all of these people to come out of the woodwork in this really collaborative way, work together to do some good.

[00:14:48] And I just was really surprised at how many people connected with me off to sending out that original email and how many people continue to work. Good. With [00:15:00] me, it's really exciting. How long did it take you from that first email to your energy month? We was probably about, it was over a year because the first year we were just trying to work out our identity and what we wanted to do, and we really started.

[00:15:22] That first year, just by picking off some low-hanging fruit, like the compostable dog poop bags, like I talked about just that those kinds of small things. And then this year we launched the, the big campaign and everything into making it a yearly thing. So hopefully we can continue, you know, get the bigger prizes, the more popular it gets and stuff.

[00:15:43] Have you got bigger goals, bigger alternative things to compete on or will you recycle this and see whether you can. Get more improvements. I think it would be cool to do the same things and monitor the progress. And then you can really see how far you've [00:16:00] come. Tell me please. About sustainable vet practices, what you are doing on social media, how you can support, encourage how.

[00:16:13] Collaborate with clinics that want to save more kilowatt hours. I really think that, uh, on our sustainable vet practice, Instagram and Facebook page were really showing a lot of people, some really simple things that they can do at their clinic. I love the Instagram page because it shows you. So people can really see how it works.

[00:16:38] People can contact us on those social media platforms. If they need to get ideas or support, we can provide that. And it just gives them something for them to say, look, this is working for these clinics. I can take this to my boss, show them the picture and be like, why are we not doing this at home? I think the social media pages are really valuable part of [00:17:00] the sustainable vet practice movement soon to be rebranded as sustain of it.

[00:17:06] Talk to me about the corporates that you've got involved at. Missy. That is one thing that is on my list because we really need to vote with our money. I think that as consumers, we can make a really big difference. And when you. Big vet clinics like this, trying to make a difference and talking with their money, we can try.

[00:17:33] And we should be trying to look into our suppliers a little bit better and trying to vet them and supporting the more sustainable ones. So I know that we do have with sustain events, we do have Zetas on board, but there are a lot of other enterprises that are sort of coming in. Together with some like hiring people specifically for sustainability, like the enterprises as well.

[00:17:58] So there's [00:18:00] some exciting stuff happening there. And I think the more we as veterinary consumers can start to choose our supplies a bit more wisely. And that goes out to office supplies as well, cleaning supplies, not just the clinic supplies. Thank you. We can really make a big difference. Are you the person that is talking to your suppliers or is somebody else it messy doing that?

[00:18:25] We have a purchasing department that takes care of all of that. I'm a little bit removed from that. As I said, I'm just an anesthesia tech. There's no such thing as just an anesthesia. Yes. Yes, no, but I definitely don't have anything to do with the ordering or anything like that. So just means that I, I have another couple of steps to go through when I'm discussing those kinds of things.

[00:18:50] I had conversations with purchasing around supporting sustainable. Purchases. We just had a, um, [00:19:00] a team change in purchasing. So I'm just waiting for them to get a bit more stable before I start shaking things up and making them change everything. They've probably only just learnt the reason for that question was just to see how well it was received or not received.

[00:19:17] And what questions and processes you went through, because I'm sure. Yeah. Some of the bigger clinics. Would it be interested to, to hear how it was for you? Oh, that's a shame. I can't comment on that too. I have to have you back fluid bag. Recycling. Talk to me about that, please. Yeah. So Baxter has a recycling scheme for anything PVC.

[00:19:44] So they send you a huge bin and you have to find somewhere for that in your clinic. I think it's like a major by major squared or something like that. And you can fill that up with old fluid bed. Also our preoxygenation [00:20:00] masks are made of PVC and also our green oxygen lines also made it PVC. So all of that kind of stuff can go in there when it's full, you just contact them, they pick it up, recycle it, and then give you an empty.

[00:20:13] I think this is a really easy thing that clinics can do because it's not a lot of work. I think nationwide it's an Australian initiative as far as I know. So they organize it from Australia, but it's throughout New Zealand as well. Food bag recycling through Royal Canaan. Yeah. This was something on new practice manager made me aware of, and that was that Royal cannon is now accepting Royal Ken and end.

[00:20:40] You can know. Empty food bags back for recycling. So all you have to do is contact them. They'll send you a bin or. You may have to have your own bin. And at our clinic, that's just an old cardboard box. And then they come and pick up the bags for a cycling. And it's [00:21:00] really easy. You just communicate this with your clients.

[00:21:02] They can come in and drop off. Some bags, gets them walking through your clinic, gets them thinking about sustainability. And again, it's not, you don't really have to do anything pretty easy. People would like to feel that they're making a difference. Yeah. And not hard. Then it really increases compliance.

[00:21:22] How about battery recycling in practice? We unfortunately do use a lot of machines that require batteries, um, you know, lab portable equipment and stuff, but we can, I think we're using, um, using rechargeable batteries is always going to be better than buying new batteries every time. But if you do need to eventually throw out those batteries, then recycling them as, again, a really easy thing you can do, depending on where you are in New Zealand.

[00:21:56] This might cost money, but I know in Manoa too, [00:22:00] we do send all of ours to Marshall batteries and they just accept them and recycle them with all their car batteries. As far as I know, Marshall batteries is nationwide. So I'm sure if they're doing it in one or two, you can probably do this anywhere in New Zealand.

[00:22:15] You just have to go and drop it off. Organic waste. Composting. You mentioned the book. Hashi. Is it Bokashi bins? Do you have a worm farm or do you have your own gardens at MSCI that you use this for? We actually. Have a contract with our local counsel who picks up all of our organic waste and uses it in near anaerobic digester.

[00:22:45] The anaerobic digester eat. Organic wastes and produces power. So it's a carbon positive outcome, which is really exciting. I know that not all councils are doing it, but it could be with [00:23:00] getting in touch with your local council. If they're doing something like this. Because again, it's a very small amount of money.

[00:23:07] I think it's $6 a week for us to have them pick out all of our organic waste. And then we just bought some little organic bins to go and. Staff room and then the kitchens. And then of course the compostable bags to collect it in. I top tip, make sure you always double bag. If you're not emptying your organic bins frequently, and you're using compostable liners, they will start to come past in the bottle and they make.

[00:23:37] Hell of a nice, yeah. Here in Hamilton Hamilton city council, we have three recycling bins. We have this little baby and there are all those curbside tip onto the back of the truck things. And we have this little tiny dinky food recycling. Then [00:24:00] that gets it. That's a weekly thing. The others are alternate weeks that gets recycled.

[00:24:06] It's only food matter. And they send that up to the composting place, which is just south of Oakland. I think tons and tons and tons of organic compost is made every week, which is it's nice to be a part. That's so easy. I know a lot of clinics have got worm funds and small little composts out the back.

[00:24:27] It's a pretty easy thing to set up. We have also got compost bin in our dog walking area, which is just for poop because the poo can't go into the anaerobic digester for some reason. I don't know. I guess poo doesn't make good power or something, but the dog. It doesn't make for great compost, just having poo in there.

[00:24:46] So we do sometimes have to go and put in some, some leaves and sticks and some different, you know, mix it up a little bit, but it tends to just compost down on itself and then you keep adding more and it just goes around and actually, surprisingly doesn't smell. Let [00:25:00] bad. Very surprised actually, but good quality compost shouldn't smell.

[00:25:05] So obviously we're doing it right. Talk to me please. About low flow anesthesia. Again, this is something that everyone could start doing tomorrow, which would save the clinic money. It reduces the amount of inhalant that you're using, and we all know that inhalant anesthesia is not very good for the environment.

[00:25:25] A lot of clinics I know are just kind of going for the. Two and two, when they're starting an anesthetic, but if you are using a rape breathing systems or the one with soda lime in it, then you can just start your patient on a starting flow rate of 30 mils per kilo per minute. And then when your circuit is full, you can turn down to a maintenance rate of 10 mils per kilo per minute, and that will help you.

[00:25:51] So for 30 kilo dog, that would mean that you're starting on one liter. And maintaining your anesthetic on [00:26:00] 300 milligrams. Which is really low compared to two liters per minute, which is a lot, which is what a lot of people just leave it on. And so, as I said, this is a really easy thing. You can start doing tomorrow and it's going to save your clinic money.

[00:26:13] Cause you're not going to go through oxygen and inhaling as quickly. And it's going to be a bit nicer for your patients. Of course, if you're not drying out the airways and cooling them with the oxygen, but of course, if you're using a non-renew breathing. You have to remember that you do need those high flows because you don't have the sort of line.

[00:26:29] So you can only do this with a re breathing. Second habit, injectable anesthesia. Again, we know that inhalants are really terrible for the environment. So if we can use total intravenous anesthesia, we avoid the use of inhalants altogether. We can practice low flow oxygen. Therapy when we're delivering the total intravenous anesthesia.

[00:26:52] And personally, I find that patients do really well on TIVA, total intravenous anesthesia. It seems that they are a [00:27:00] lot more stable cardiovascularly. So you don't get those big drops in blood pressure that you do with inhalant anesthesia. I guess the only downside is that you do need the equipment. Would mean that you need a syringe pump to deliver the TIVA, but you could use, you don't have to get like a fancy one.

[00:27:18] You can use a Niki pump, you know, just like a plain fluid pump deliver through that in mils per hour. I think a lot of clinics now have those fluid Nicky pumps and it wouldn't be too hard for them. To start using a little bit of injectable anesthesia and noticing the difference. I think, I mean, I came around to that really quickly.

[00:27:37] I love injectable anesthesia now, and it's a bonus that is good for the environment on the Facebook or through Instagram. Have you heard of any clinics that have put this into practice and seen any of their feedback? I've seen a bit of engagement with the post, but no, one's actually commented it. I've started using it.

[00:27:56] I'd love to hear about that. It is [00:28:00] again, something that you can do. That's really easy. And I think it's like one of those things, you know, often with when we're making sacrifices to the environment, sometimes it's not, not as good. And we just kind of do it because we know what's good for the environment, but with some things it's actually better.

[00:28:19] It's win-win yeah. Um, responsible anti-microbial despite. This is, again, this is on my list because in New Zealand, we actually don't have a biohazard waste incinerator, which I was really surprised to find out. We send all of our big yellow bags and all of our shops away to some. Magical biohazard waste disposal system, which we presume is incineration.

[00:28:49] Not that incinerating plastic syringes is very good for the environment anyway, but we still have to maintain good practice standards. Right. So what actually happens to our waste is [00:29:00] that it's autoclaved and buried in a dedicated by our hazard waste landfill. When you eventually have those bags, Write down whatever's inside those bags.

[00:29:11] It's still going out into our environment and that includes antibiotics and where those antibiotics are. Indeed. And now ecosystem, we really need to find a bit of way of disposing our antibiotics that we're not using. And we already know that we shouldn't be using antibiotics for frivolously anyway, but it's something that we really need to start thinking of.

[00:29:33] And this might be one of those things. That's, it's bigger than me, but with my green team behind me, we might actually be able to start making some noise about this and really make a difference here, because this is something that really alarmed me when I thought about. And when I learned about it, how about the horrible plastic packaging that a lot of stuff comes in, where you have [00:30:00] to contort and swear and curse, and it ruins scissors trying to open these plastic containers or plastic it's it's not shrink wrapped, but it's, it's horrible.

[00:30:14] Yeah. How do you get around that? I mean, I have to deal with that every day, you know, working in anesthesia or working in surgery and everything is wrapped in plastic to be sterile. And to a certain extent, we have to remember that we're still. Doing the best for the patients. And sometimes the best is for it to be sterilized and wrapped in plastic.

[00:30:35] Sometimes it's unavoidable and there are some things we just have to accept, but again, I think this is where we have to start putting pressure on the suppliers and saying that we want them to change the. They are doing things. If you're lucky enough to live in one of the cities that has soft plastics recycling, some of those plastic can be recycled.

[00:30:57] You think about a syringe, it [00:31:00] comes in a wrapper with plastic on one side paper on the other. You can separate those, recycle the paper and then recycle the plastic with soft plastics. So it's about doing what you can. But again, remembering that you can't do everything you'll plastic. Do you have separate bins for the different numbers?

[00:31:19] Do you click them separately? We only have one bin for recycling and Manoa too. It all goes through and gets sorted at the council, so they don't make us separate it. And now that we had the six and six, where we taught everyone how to recycle properly and we're making sure. Different numbers on ending up in the air that shouldn't be in contributing to contamination, which we know ultimately makes that load go to the landfill.

[00:31:45] Unfortunately, is it a supportive council, a supportive resection. Yeah, they're doing some really good things. Uh, like I said, with the anaerobic digester, they're trying to get a bit more education out there for people to make sure that we [00:32:00] are recycling properly. I've got some really good stuff on their website and their social media.

[00:32:04] So I think it it's always can be better, but I'm, I'm pretty happy with the direction they're going personally, if somebody's listening to this and they're thinking, yes, I really want to start doing something. And this clinic way, would you recommend that they start? I think that if you make a list of all of the things you want to do, and then you prioritize them in terms of what's easy, what you could do now, and then just start picking off the low hanging fruit, you know, things like the compostable dog poop bag.

[00:32:39] Changing your Ellie, you light bulbs to LEDs doing low flow anesthesia, sustainable office suppliers, sustainable cleaning products, changing the way you do cat poop, battery recycling, all these kinds of things, switching off lights and just start doing them. And then you'll notice that people will watch what [00:33:00] you're doing and they'll ask questions or you'll just.

[00:33:04] I'll just start doing them too. Like I started turning the centrifuge off every night and now everyone just students at centrifuge off every night becomes a habit and you sit the example, people will follow, and then you've got that list. You might have to get a little bit of manager support, a little bit of financial support for those big ones.

[00:33:23] But when you've started with those small things and everyone's seeing, Hey, we're saving money on electricity or. Yeah, this is working really well. Why don't we try start doing some bigger things, then they're going to be pretty open to that. I think as sustainability become part of your team values and you recruit on that as well, as that mentioned, during a recruitment or during team expanse.

[00:33:51] Not yet. And that's a really good idea and I hadn't even thought of that. So thank you. I'll be adding that to my list. One thing that we have initiated is [00:34:00] inviting each team to have a sustainability agenda item in their meetings. And then you have that gap in each meeting for someone to bring something up.

[00:34:10] Maybe no one says anything, but it'll just encourage people to stop thinking about it. And so. And fit the teams systemically through their meetings and networks. Lisa Snyder a few weeks ago said that one of the things that her team started doing that was really easy in the beginning was bringing their lunches to work and recyclable reusable containers rather than plastic wrapped or buying take-aways the whole time.

[00:34:40] And then from there, we've got the beautiful garden and the wound from. Yeah, again, just small things that you can do really small, easy things that doesn't, you don't have to tackle everything at once. Just, just start doing one small thing, set the example, you know, start bringing your lunch in a beeswax wrap, and then everyone's going to go, [00:35:00] Hey, that's a, that looks way cooler than my plastic.

[00:35:04] And then they're going to want to get some thinking. You could do it as a, a team-building cause making those. Reps. Aren't that difficult? I mean, it's a bit, it's a bit iffy around, but it's not that difficult. And you could do it as a team building exercise. You totally could. Yeah, it would be so fun and you get to pick all the patterns that you want to make on your bees, right.

[00:35:28] Beeswax wraps, and then you can use them at work together. It's cool. Anything else you want to say that I haven't asked that you want people to know? This is a global podcast, I guess. My biggest take home message from everything that I've been doing for sustainability is the difference that one person can make.

[00:35:48] There was some research that came out this week about sustainable or about climate change in New Zealand. And a really high percentage of people said that they [00:36:00] didn't want to do anything because they didn't think that one person could make a difference. I've always loved the quote that. If you don't think one creature can make a difference, you obviously haven't slept in a room with a mosquito because it started sure.

[00:36:16] But if I think of my own journey, I'm just one person. And the difference I've made at my work with the help of my team and the help of my men. And all the people here that have taken everything on board, taking that into their homes, everyone that they live with and it spreads. And I would just really encourage anyone, even if you're just one person, you don't know where to go.

[00:36:42] Just pick something easy, start doing it. You can make a difference, even though you are just one person. And I'm a true example of that. Francesca brown also mentioned a few episodes ago that to share what you're doing with your clinic's clients, because they [00:37:00] will want to be a part of it as well. Yeah, it's definitely, it's good for business.

[00:37:03] I mean, sustainability is kind of hot topic right now and a lot of people are really looking for that. The providers. So it's not going to hurt to mention it to your clients that special. And you just give me your Facebook address. Sure. Yeah, we haven't finished rebranding it. So it's still called sustainable vet practice.

[00:37:25] And then there's a hyphen and in Zed and it's the same for the Instagram actually, although it's all one word because it has to be for an Instagram handle and you've got an article I understand from rose coming up and. Is it the December edition? Yeah, that sounds right. I had an article about the green team and.

[00:37:46] Maybe a year ago as well. Can you send me the link? I'll see if I can find it and I'll put that. It's probably all stuff that I just think, you know, we've come so far now. Be quite cool to go back and read that. Actually. [00:38:00] Thanks for listening. I hope you found that helpful and aspired to want to make your own sustainable different in your clinic.

[00:38:08] Remember CJ said one person can make a difference and that one person could be. We've got some more sustainable chats coming up, so keep listening. And if you haven't done so yet click that follow button wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts and that way you'll never miss out on future episodes, because there'll be delivered straight to your podcast of choice feed.

[00:38:33] Again, if you wouldn't mind. Signing the petition. You want to sign the petition? Get to VIX in zed@facebookorattinyurl.com forward slash get to VIPs in Z. Thank you for staying to the end. As I said, at the beginning, I've included the chat that CJ and I head post podcast at the end. If you're interested, wherever you are, [00:39:00] stay safe here.

[00:39:02] And God bless paws, claws and wet noses is sponsored by Vetstar. If you've never heard of it, staff it's new, Zealand's only full service recruitment agency. 100% dedicated to the veterinary sector and fit staff has been around since 2015 and works nationwide from Kate, rehang it to the bluff and everywhere in between as well as helping Kiwis fit staff.

[00:39:29] Also hubs overseas, qualified veterinarians find work and art hero. And. Fit staff.co dot indeed. Cool. I was so cool talking to you. Thank you. I've learned a lot. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. I can't wait to hear it and, uh, and share it with everyone. It will probably be, um, I will, if I can produce this over the weekend, then it will be episode 52.

[00:39:59] [00:40:00] Okay. Which. And I wanted something, you know, 52 it's it's 12 month anniversary means that the pit, the podcasters has been going for a year and I wanted something sweet. So this, this feels special, so, oh, wow. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. So will, cause I, yeah, there'll be a bit of a re Rafa. We've been, you know, we've turned one.

[00:40:24] Yeah. Yeah. It is considering not many people realize that most podcasts don't reach episode two. Really? Really? Oh, wow. Indeed. And then half that has started, don't get to episode eight. Wow. So they, you know, so those that make to yeah. Get to seven. Yeah. But then they don't get to eight. Wow. Because it's just cracked 50.

[00:40:53] That's incredible. Because the, uh, the time involved in doing them is it's a huge time. [00:41:00] What's great work. I think I I've been listening to your podcast and I think there's some really good stuff on there. I really loved Lisa's podcast. She had some really interesting stuff. She's so contagious. I know her passion and she's so sweet as well.

[00:41:14] Like yeah, she's just adorable. She's lovely. Yeah. No, it's, it's great to hear everything that all your guests are saying, like it's really important work. So I'm not surprised that you've made it this far, to be honest. Thank you.