Sustainability is more than just a buzzword in the pet food industry — it’s a mission-oriented goal for many. During SuperZoo 2022, a group of processors made commitments to develop measurable progress toward the use of refillable, compostable and recyclable packaging by the end of 2025. Canidae, Earth Animal, Instinct, Petcurean and Primal Pet Foods publicly signed the Pet Sustainability Coalition’s (PSC) Packaging Pledge during the show, solidifying their commitment toward sustainability.
“The pet industry produces 300 million pounds of food and treats packaging that ends up in landfills each year, just in the United States,” said Stephie Volo, chief marketing officer at Earth Animal. “The PSC Packaging Pledge represents a powerful opportunity for us all to collaborate in significantly reducing the industry’s impact on the environment.”
According to PSC, with a collaborative effort from pet food manufacturers and packaging companies through programs such as the Packaging Pledge, “the pet industry can achieve rapid adoption by 2025 and near 80% transition of all pet food multi-laminate packaging by 2030.”
CRB’s report also revealed producers are taking sustainability quite seriously. A question about future plans for becoming carbon neutral showed that the majority of the respondents’ companies either have plans in the works for becoming carbon neutral, or they soon will. Fifty percent will have a plan in place within five years; 30% within 10 years; and 7% in 10 years or longer. Only 6% of respondents reported that they have yet to start working toward this goal.
As the pet food industry continues its growth trajectory, processors undoubtedly have a lot on their plates. They face the ongoing task of meeting the demands of current and future pet parents as they search for more variety from the food and treats they feed their pets. Alongside this, the industry continues to battle the manufacturing challenges of labor shortages, supply chain logistics and rising ingredient costs, all the while working to keep sustainability and other environmental issues a priority.
If the pet food industry can stay the course, innovating and expanding along the way, prognosticators might just be correct with their lofty growth predictions.
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