The pathway to sustainable pet packaging

As much as 99% of multi-laminate packaging used currently for most pet food and treats in North America does not have a sustainable end-of-life solution. But this may change after the Pet Sustainability Coalition (PSC) recently announced the so-called Packaging Pledge, aiming to accelerate the pet industry’s progress toward sustainable packaging from summer 2022.

UnPacked22
The announcement came at UnPacked22, an annual virtual sustainable packaging event held by the non- profit organization PSC. Dozens of brands also made guest appearances. This included Instinct, PetDine, All The Best, Stella & Chewy’s and MudBay, who all expressed intentions to become official signatories of the pledge. Companies who sign on to this program will voluntarily commit to transitioning their packaging to 100% recyclable, refillable or compostable by 2025.

The PSC Packaging Pledge is inspired by the Ellen MacArthur Plastics Pact, a global response to plastic waste and pollution. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Plastic Pact Network includes national plastic pacts throughout Europe, Africa and North America, as well as regional pacts including Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

Time to catch up?
The pet industry has unique packaging constraints that hinder its sustainability advancement. Examples of these are large size formats, heavyweight requirements, and residual oils and food contamination. After completing a stakeholder analysis of members, suppliers, brands and retailers, PSC learned that while packaging ranks among the top 3 most important sustainability issues facing the pet industry, the majority of pet companies rely on part- time staff plus inadequate tools, resources and support to advance their packaging toward more sustainable outcomes.

What also doesn’t help is that companies often turn to existing packaging suppliers for education, and suppliers currently recommend a variety of solutions that are biased toward their abilities and solutions.

Making change easy
In order for brands and manufacturers to make this impactful packaging change, PSC has developed a program with a variety of tools and resources for pledge signatories.

Program benefits include: 

• A vetted marketplace housing pre-qualified packaging suppliers that meet Ellen MacArthur requirements.
• Marketing assets, including signatory badges, social media and exclusive promotion opportunities.
• Packaging assessment tools such as packaging life cycle analysis, the Recycling Partnership’s Plastic IQ, How2Recycle labeling support, and packaging design guidelines.
• Tapping into its extensive member network, PSC will also develop Peer working groups to share successes and challenges for accelerated progress.

Working for the future
Admittedly, the PSC Packaging Pledge is a program that will not immediately have an impact. But it is essential that the industry creates pathways for systemic improvements that require a long-term ambitious approach. At the same time, most flexible plastic packaging being used by the pet industry today is a serious environmental issue.

Recycling trials
Flex Forward is a return-to-retail pilot led by PSC that began in August 2020. Its goal was to collect more than 5,000 lbs (2,268 kg) of pet food and treat packaging over 6 months. The program exceeded its goals – reaching over 8,000 lbs (3,629 kg) of packaging, even amidst pandemic-induced retail closures.

PSC recently released new data related to the testing results from recycling trials that were conducted after the material was collected in retail stores. Over 12 different types of chemical and mechanical recycling tests were completed. Initial findings are being evaluated as part of a feasibility study outlining future expansion opportunities.

The findings indicate that if pet specialty and independent pet retailers in the US participate, expanding the Flex Forward program could successfully improve end-of-life solutions for 5 million pounds (2.27 million kg) of plastic pet packaging annually. This would also build store take-back behavior among pet parents. Regardless of whether the industry moves toward recyclable packaging or not, store take-back is the leading system for collecting material. It will be an essential component of sustainable packaging now and in the future.