Vets and farmers are being encouraged to work together to ensure best practice in the disposal of pharmaceutical waste.

The move follows recent research by Ceva Animal Health, innovators in eco-friendly packaging for livestock injectables, which revealed that nearly 60 per cent of vets believed that some of their farming clients could be disposing of pharmaceutical waste in domestic or commercial waste bins, while over a quarter of vets acknowledged that they do not actively promote the disposal of their clients’ empty pharmaceutical waste on their behalf¹.

Furthermore, while vets were aware that both glass and shatterproof plastic vials are incinerated, over 65 per cent of those questioned believed that glass vials were more environmentally friendly, when in reality Ceva’s CLAS^Æ (Ceva Layered Anti Shatter) shatterproof plastic vials have 33 per cent less impact on the environment from cradle to grave².

Ceva Animal Health is producing a range of bespoke support materials to help vets to raise awareness of their pharmaceutical waste disposal service and drive improvements across the industry. The support pack includes tailored social media and newsletter content to meet the individual requirements of veterinary practices.

“As an industry we should be doing all that we can to improve our environmentally friendly credentials,” comments Peter Keyte, ruminant business unit manager at Ceva Animal Health. “Ceva will continue to invest in innovative eco-friendly technology for livestock injectables and pioneer improvements to help ensure best practice throughout the industry.”

Ceva Animal Health trademarked its innovative CLAS (Ceva Layered Anti Shatter) vials in 2007 and continues to invest in this technology for livestock injectables, such as NSAIDs and antibiotics. These include ZELERIS^Æ, FLORKEM^Æ and VETRIMOXIN^Æ, with KETOFEN^Æ available in CLAS vials later in 2020 and other products in the range from 2021.

The easy to use, practical and eco-friendly CLAS vials are preferred by 99 per cent of farmers² on farm. The vials are:

• Eco-friendly for less impact on the environment³
• Robust and shock resistant⁴ for less breakage, spillage and losses
• Ergonomic as they have a ‘grip groove’ for easier handling⁵
• Utilise light weight material for easier transportation and handling⁶
• Have a hi-tech multi-layered structure for great product stability⁷

For further information, or to request a pharmaceutical waste disposal service support pack, please contact your local Ceva account manager or call 01494 781510.