First Farm Animal Practice achieves iiE Accreditation
Crowshall Veterinary Services LLP (CVS) were founded in 1995 with the ambition to provide evidence-based, practical and compassionate veterinary care to the commercial poultry and gamebird sectors. Since then the practice has grown organically, with a team of veterinarians as well as laboratory, administration and technical staff. Throughout this development, Crowshall have maintained a consistent focus on championing the production of healthy and sustainable food while promoting outstanding animal health and welfare.
The Crowshall team have successfully achieved iiE Silver accreditation 2021, after their first year of working with iiE. They are the first UK commercial poultry and gamebird practice and 100% farm animal practice to attain Silver accreditation.
How did they do it?
Crowshall developed and implemented its first environmental policy, with strong commitments and action plans to improve high environmental impact areas. They also applied a forward-thinking travel policy with domestic and international travel included, as well as planning for future fleet investment. By targeting staff engagement and behaviour, in addition to investment in efficient lighting and equipment, the practice achieved excellent reductions in energy and water consumption. Through critically assessing waste processes at the practice, Crowshall also cut total waste production by nearly half.
Third party emissions and supply chain were also included in the Crowshall sustainability focus. The practice slashed waste contractor transport emissions by engaging local waste contractors. In doing so, Crowshall avoided hundreds of lorry miles for anatomical waste collection from their rural location.
Their iiE support and assessment focused on developing an environmental management system to integrate and complement their UKAS-accredited laboratory quality management system. The support also focused on resource measurement and monitoring process and the impact of veterinary services. Some of the sustainability achievements from the first year include the creation of a green group containing all members of senior management, as well as representatives from veterinary, lab and administrative staff. This enabled the implementation of the sustainability agenda based on carbon footprinting for all business outputs.
With the ever-growing evidence of the climate crisis and pressure to act to reduce emissions, Crowshall also took proactive action to reduce their own environmental impact by carrying out its first carbon footprint.
What’s next?
Crowshall aspires to achieve further environmental improvements this year, continuing to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions and also looking at how they can support their stakeholders with more sustainable practices too.
If you would like to find out more, Crowshall have agreed to be contacted in relation to this case study.
