BOULDER, COLO. — On May 24, the Pet Sustainability Coalition (PSC) detailed the success of its Earth Day Rally that began April 22. The Earth Day Rally received participation from more than 600 industry professionals, completing a total of 12,034 environmentally friendly actions, far exceeding PSC’s original goal.

PSC announced its plans for the Earth Day Rally on April 4, to celebrate Earth Day and inspire 10,000 sustainable actions throughout the entire pet industry. The rally marked PSC’s most extensive multi-stakeholder sustainability initiative, partnering with the Pet Advocacy Network, the Pet Industry Distributors Association (PIDA), IndiePet, the American Pet Products Association (APPA), the World Pet Association (WPA) and the National Animal Veterinary Council.

According to PSC, participants in the rally completed a variety of actions, including learning about Fair Trade products, downloading tools from PSC’s DEI Toolkit, and tackling the food waste epidemic. Facing overwhelming success, PSC has highlighted pet companies and professionals that exceeded in the rally.

The top five member teams of the Earth Day Rally include: Petcurean, Canidae, Stella & Chewy’s, Instinct Pet Food and Earth Animal.

“At Petcurean we value our company culture very much and we used this rally to create an amazing environment where we could exchange on a very important topic,” said Christine Mallier, sustainability and community relations manager at Petcurean. “In the first week we managed to surpass our company's 30-day goal, but we kept going to keep the spirit alive, by creating many sub-challenges within Petcurean across departments and committees. It definitely shows how such initiatives can help nurture the company's culture and the individuals that ultimately will shape a better pet industry in the 21st century.”

Top five industry professionals of the Earth Day Rally include: Mike Justice, key account manager at Stella & Chewy’s; Mallier; Nadine Sowers of Champion Petfoods; Brandi Piche, Northeast territory sales manager at Petcurean; and Theresa Lantz, companion animal nutritionist at Petcurean.

Other top performers of PSC’s Earth Day Rally include distributor Animal Supply Company and manufacturer AB7 America.

“PIDA was delighted to join the Pet Sustainability Coalition on a 30-day sprint to inspire 10,000 actions that lead to a better future for pets, people and the planet,” said Celeste Powers, president of PIDA. “It was a great initiative for the good of our industry and the world at large.”

Read more about sustainability in the pet food and treat industry.