Veterinary practices generate a stream of animal by-product material that sits awkwardly between clinical waste and farm waste, and the two are not interchangeable. Martlands is a DEFRA approved provider of fallen stock and ABP collection licensed for all three animal by-product categories, and veterinary practice ABP collection is a service we provide to farm, mixed and equine practices across the North West. The compliance question a practice faces is rarely whether the material needs proper disposal. It is which route applies to which item, and being able to demonstrate that the right one was used.
Why Clinical Waste Contracts Do Not Cover Everything
Most practices hold a clinical waste contract covering sharps, pharmaceutical waste and infectious clinical items, and that contract is entirely appropriate for what it covers. What it generally does not cover is whole carcasses, substantial post-mortem material, and animal by-products arising from farm work carried out on the practice premises. A practice that assumes its clinical waste route absorbs all of it usually discovers otherwise during an inspection, and by then the records showing where the material went are the problem rather than the material itself.
The distinction matters because animal by-products are governed by their own framework. The Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2013 set out how material is categorised, how it must be stored and transported, and what documentation must accompany it. A practice handling this material is a producer under that framework and carries the corresponding duties.
Euthanised Animals Are Category 1
The single most important point for a farm or mixed practice is that animals euthanised using certain veterinary products, barbiturates in particular, are Category 1 material and must be handled as such. The residues persist in the carcass, they are hazardous to any animal that consumes it, and the material is excluded from lower-risk routes entirely. This applies to a euthanised pony on a yard as much as it does to a cow in a crush, and it applies regardless of the animal’s size.
We have set out the position in detail in our guidance on animals euthanised with barbiturates, and it is worth circulating to everybody in a practice who may be asked what happens next by a client standing in a yard. The answer they give shapes what the client then does with the animal.
Getting the Category Right Across a Practice’s Material
Not everything a practice produces is Category 1. Material from routine procedures, certain post-mortem material, and by-products of veterinary work on animals not euthanised with restricted products may fall into Category 2, and the handling and processing requirements differ accordingly. Our Category 2 ABP collection covers that stream, while Category 1 material goes through our Category 1 ABP collection route under Animal By-Products Licence No APB/CCN21/373/8002.
Where a practice is unsure, the safe position is the higher category, but the better position is to establish once which of your regular material sits where and write it into your practice procedures. Our guide to ABP categories explains the distinctions in plain terms and is a reasonable starting point for that exercise.
Storage on Practice Premises
Practices are frequently located in villages and small towns, sometimes with residential neighbours, and storage arrangements have to reflect that. Material must be held in leak-proof containment, kept secure from animals and the public, and stored so that it does not create odour or attract vermin. Chilled storage extends the practical holding period considerably and is worth the capital cost for any practice doing regular farm or equine work.
The other consideration is access. A collection vehicle needs to reach the storage point without crossing the client car park at nine in the morning or passing the waiting room door. Practices that have thought about this at the design stage find collections straightforward. Those that have not usually end up with a compromise that works but takes longer.
Documentation and the Practice Inspection
Every Martlands collection produces a Commercial Document, and where the material is handled as waste, a Waste Transfer Note. For a veterinary practice these serve exactly the same purpose as they do on a farm, which is to demonstrate to an inspecting officer that material left the premises under a licensed carrier and reached an approved processing facility. We hold Waste Carrier Licence CB/QE5406MT and Site Licence EAWML/100236 alongside the animal by-products licence, and we are a DEFRA approved processing and sampling facility.
Keep the documents in a single accessible file. Practice inspections generally proceed on the assumption that a well-run practice can produce its disposal records within a few minutes, and taking half an hour to find them creates an impression that is difficult to recover from.
Serving Practices Across the Region
The practices we work with are concentrated in the livestock areas we already cover daily. Across Lancashire ABP collection the farm practice network runs from the Fylde through the Ribble Valley and out towards the Pennine fringe, and most of those premises sit on rounds we operate anyway.
The picture in Greater Manchester ABP collection is different in character, with more mixed and small animal practices and fewer purely farm ones, but the equine and farm work at the urban fringe generates a steady requirement. Being close to the M60 and M61 corridors means collection frequency can be set to suit the practice rather than the geography.
Arranging Collections
Most practices settle on a scheduled collection with the option to call in an additional visit when a large animal comes in unexpectedly. That combination keeps storage volumes manageable and keeps the documentation continuous. Call 01704 776977 to discuss what a practice of your size and caseload would need, or set it up through contact us.
