Each year, the companion pet industry creates more than 300 million pounds of flexible plastic packaging in North America, affecting about 67% of pet-owning households in the United States. Unfortunately, 99% of the multi-laminate packaging used for most pet food and treats in North America today does not have a sustainable end-of-life solution. While other industries, such as food and beverage, are rapidly moving toward scalable sustainable solutions, the pet industry has faced challenges.
On August 23 in Las Vegas, five leading pet food brands will break away from the competitive business mindset to change the future of packaging for the better. leaders of Canidae, Terrestrial Animal, Instinct, Petcurean, Y Primary pet food will publicly sign the Pet Sustainability Coalition’s Packaging Pledge, a new program that helps companies meet voluntary, public, and time-bound sustainable packaging commitments. The PSC Packaging Commitment is directly aligned with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, thereby increasing the pet industry’s involvement in moving towards recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging by 2025.
PSC’s packaging commitment builds on the momentum of additional sustainable packaging successes led by the Pet Sustainability Coalition, including Flex Forward, a return-to-retail pilot program that collected more than 8,000 pounds of post-consumer packaging for recycling testing and completed in 2022 Trial trials at Flex Forward resulted in a better understanding of the challenges presented by the current composition of most pet food packaging. These challenges include non-standard design practices, a wide variety of container types and forms of plastics used, various closures and multi-material windows, metallic layers, a wide variety of colors and more.
While packaging is among the top three sustainability issues facing the pet industry, most pet companies rely on part-time staff, inadequate tools, resources, and support to move their packaging toward more sustainable outcomes. . Starting in 2018, the Pet Sustainability Coalition became the first organization to unify the industry toward defined solutions that include increasing the use of single-material recyclable packaging, recommending the use of clear consumer labels, testing end-of-life possibilities useful and retail collections. Today, the PSC Packaging Commitment will provide a long-term path to sustainable packaging that includes tools, a marketplace, and technical support for brands to feasibly deliver on this public commitment. Recent feasibility studies suggest that with the collaborative effort of pet food manufacturers and existing technologies today to move toward recyclable, refillable and compostable packaging, the pet industry can achieve rapid adoption by 2025 and a transition of almost 80% of all multi-laminate pet food packaging by 2030.
The PSC Packaging Commitment has been built in consultation with a host of industry experts, including the US Plastics Pact), and more. The innovative program is made possible by the generous donations of Earth Animal, Tyler’s Packaging, Y Thanh Phu.
To learn more about PSC’s packaging commitment and see the story unfolding, join the Pet Sustainability Coalition for a public signing and informational event at Earth Animal Booth #3839.
how to sign
The PSC Packaging Commitment is open to any company in the pet industry and asks companies to make measurable progress toward refillable, compostable and/or recyclable packaging solutions by the end of 2025. In exchange for this commitment, PSC is providing signatories with tools such as packaging benchmarking tools, North American and EU legislative summaries, a pre-vetted packaging supplier marketplace, and more. All pet companies are encouraged to complete this form for more information.
About the Pet Sustainability Coalition
The Pet Sustainability Coalition promotes business through profitable environmental and social business practices. Founded in 2013 by eight companies, PSC now serves more than 200 member companies in the pet industry, helping them advance their sustainability practices, set and strive for ambitious goals, and report on their achievements. Additionally, the PSC leads retailers, distributors, brands, and suppliers in finding collaborative solutions to some of the industry’s biggest issues, such as sustainable packaging and protein sourcing. Connect with us on LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Learn more at www.petsustainability.org.