The veterinary group increases non-medical waste recycling to 45.5% as Environment Champions and new recycling initiatives drive change across practices
CVS Group has reduced the amount of waste it sends to landfill by 14.5%, while increasing the proportion of its non-medical waste that is recycled to 45.5%, new figures reveal.
The results, published in the latest CVS Group plc Sustainability Report, follow a series of practical initiatives across the group's UK veterinary practices and wider operations to reduce, reuse and recycle more waste.
During 2025-26, CVS reduced the amount of waste sent to landfill to 91.3 tonnes, compared with 106.8 tonnes in the previous year, exceeding its target to reduce landfill waste by 10%. At the same time, the proportion of non-medical waste being recycled increased from a restated 40.9% to 45.5%, exceeding CVS' 41% target.
A network of 260 Environment Champions is helping to drive change locally across CVS. Based within its practices and other sites, the champions help colleagues correctly segregate waste, improve recycling and embed more sustainable behaviours into everyday working practices. Environment Champions also share best practice and information about new recycling opportunities across the group, with local initiatives spanning waste separation and recycling, energy reduction and rewilding of practice sites.
CVS has also been working with its waste management partner to undertake audits and reviews to better understand the composition of waste generated by practices and identify materials which could potentially be diverted from general waste. This has included site visits, waste audits and live online sessions, alongside clearer guidance for practices on what can and cannot be recycled.
Hard-to-recycle plastics have been another area of focus. Through the Vet Direct Zero Waste Recycling Boxes initiative, practices can recycle blister packaging alongside soft and mixed plastics that might not otherwise be accepted through standard recycling streams. During the year, 462 boxes were used, 85% of which focused on soft plastics, helping to collect more than 1,920kg of soft plastics to date.
CVS is also looking further up the supply chain to explore opportunities to reduce waste before it reaches practices. Working with suppliers, the group changed the packaging used for its own-brand microchip products from waxed paper materials that could not be recycled to fully recyclable alternatives. The change has enabled 293kg of packaging to be disposed of more sustainably.
Elsewhere, Animed Direct, CVS' online retailer, has expanded its approach to reusing packaging. Supplier cardboard boxes are either reused for outgoing customer orders or shredded on site for use as packing material. 20,000 cardboard boxes were reused during the year, generating savings of £17,000 as well as reducing waste.
"Veterinary practices inevitably produce a variety of waste streams, so one of our priorities is to find practical ways to reduce waste and improve segregation and recycling wherever we can.
What's particularly encouraging is that many of these improvements come from relatively simple changes. Whether that's giving teams clearer information about which materials can be recycled, providing routes for recycling more difficult plastics, changing product packaging or simply reusing materials, relatively small actions can have a significant collective impact when adopted across our group.
Our Environment Champions have an important role to play in this. They are helping to turn our wider sustainability ambitions into practical action within individual practices, while sharing ideas and encouraging colleagues to make sustainable choices part of everyday veterinary practice."
CVS' approach is based on reducing, reusing and recycling waste wherever possible, alongside working to improve how remaining waste is processed. The group is also working with suppliers to reduce packaging volumes, increase the use of sustainable materials and identify products with improved sustainability credentials.
During 2026-27, CVS has set a further target to reduce waste sent to landfill by 10% and increase the proportion of non-medical waste recycled to 48%. It will also continue working with waste providers on recycling reforms and support its Environment Champions to improve waste segregation.
The initiatives form part of CVS' Care for our Planet sustainability programme. Read out full Sustainability Report 2025-26