BOULDER, COLO. — On Aug. 23, pet food companies Canidae, Earth Animal, Instinct, Petcurean and Primal Pet Foods will publicly sign the Pet Sustainability Coalition’s (PSC) Packaging Pledge at SuperZoo 2022. PSC’s Packaging Pledge seeks to help pet industry companies create more sustainable packaging commitments.

“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. We are proud to sponsor and participate in this initiative and help drive more sustainable and successful business in our industry.”

According to PSC about 99% of multi-laminate packaging used for pet foods and treats do not have a sustainable, end-of-life solution. With this in mind, the coalition is hoping to further the industry’s sustainable packaging efforts with the Packaging Pledge.

“The PSC Packaging Pledge builds from the momentum of additional sustainable packaging successes led by the PSC, including Flex Forward, a return-to-retail pilot program that collected more than 8,000 lbs of post-consumer packaging for recycling trials and was completed in 2022,” the PSC said. “Testing trials in 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 variation of packaging types and forms of plastics used, various multi-material closures and windows, metallic layers, wide color assortments, and more.”

The pledge asks pet industry companies to develop measurable progress towards the use of refillable, compostable, and recyclable packaging by the end of 2025. In exchange for their commitment, PSC will provide informational tools, including:

• A marketplace of vetted, pre-qualified packaging suppliers
• Methods of measuring packaging life cycles
• Packaging design guides and labeling support from How2Recycle
• Legislative updates from North America and the European Union on sustainable packaging
• Marketing assets, including badges and social media promotion opportunities.

“Today, the PSC Packaging Pledge will provide a long-term pathway to sustainable packaging including tools, a marketplace, and technical support for brands to feasibly meet this public commitment,” PSC said. “Recent feasibility studies suggest that with collaborative effort from pet food manufacturers and currently existing technologies to move toward recyclable, refillable and compostable packaging — the pet industry can achieve rapid adoption by 2025 and near 80% transition of all pet food multi-laminate packaging by 2030.”

PSC’s Packaging Pledge was developed in collaboration with a variety of industry experts, including the US Plastics Pact, Closed Loop Partners, The Recycling Partnership, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and more. The program aligns with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment and has received funding from Earth Animal, Tyler Packaging and Thanh Phu Plastic Packaging Co.

“Tyler Packaging is incredibly proud to be a part of the PSC Packaging Pledge, it represents the need for change in our industry, and to be part of this movement is truly inspiring,” said Adam Kay, sales and technical director at Tyler Packaging. “We look forward to continuing to support brands in this transition to recyclable and compostable packaging.”

Canidae, Earth Animal, Instinct, Petcurean and Primal Pet Foods will sign the Packaging Pledge at booth No. 3839.

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