CVS Group halves the amount of waste going to landfill

SLASHING the amount of waste sent to landfill and a big increase in rubbish being recycled are the highlights of the CVS Care Plan, the group’s Sustainability Report for 2025.

The improvements reflect improved segregation and recycling practices that are being led by CVS’  network of Environment Champions across practices, hospitals and other sites.

From July 2024 to June 2025, CVS Group achieved the following results: a 53.5% reduction in waste sent to landfill, against a target of 10% reduction, and 39.0% of non-medical waste recycled, against last year’s 34.9% and target for this year of 38%.

CVS Group is reducing the number of 'sharps' being incinerated

These improvements are a result of CVS Group’s Reduce, Recycle, Reuse waste strategy, which includes:

• Reduce – CVS has reduced packaging on some of our own-label medicines such as removing the outer packaging from Endectrid.

• Recycle – launching zero waste boxes for harder to recycle items such as soft plastics.

• Reuse – reusable sharps have been introduced at UK practices over the last year. The move will save 21,000 single-use sharps bins from being incinerated a year.

Rosie Naylor, CVS Group procurement director and sustainability lead, said: “Every veterinary practice has access to step-by-step waste disposal guidance, and many have Environment Champions steering the effort at ground level. This is leading to less waste going to landfill and more being recycled.”

Looking ahead, CVS Group aims to reduce waste sent to landfill by an additional 10% and increase non-medical waste recycling to 41% in the coming year.