Pet industry moves beyond compliance in sustainability
Environmental strategy is evolving to encompass more than just emissions and packaging, as businesses invest in regenerative agriculture, water stewardship and supply chain resilience.
There are numerous examples of initiatives successfully tackling the pet sector’s most common sustainability priorities, which include greenhouse gas (GHG) measurement, packaging compliance and redesign, supply chain engagement and reviewing claims. Companies at the forefront of sustainability are now also broadening their efforts to address a wider range of issues. What are the latest developments, and which areas should industry players keep an eye on?
Road to net zero
The reduction of fossil fuel usage remains one of the key sustainability indicators in the pet industry. Companies continue to accelerate efforts to reduce GHG emissions through renewables, energy efficiency and fleet electrification as they work toward long-term net-zero targets.
Mars is reducing direct emissions through renewable thermal solutions, electric vehicle deployment and energy efficiency improvements. Together, these initiatives increased renewable sources to account for almost 40% of the total electrical and thermal energy used. The company’s progress earned it the Reuters Sustainability Award for Net Zero Leadership in 2025.
Making changes to electricity supply
To obtain 85% of its required electricity supply from renewable sources, animal health multinational Zoetis used electricity generated by solar arrays at eight sites.
The company also reduced fleet emissions by expanding its use of hybrid and electric vehicles, comprising more than half of its fleet. By implementing these changes, Zoetis met its target of reducing transportation-related emissions intensity by 25% compared with its 2019 baseline.
Global health and nutrition company H&H Group revealed that renewable sources covered the supply of 100% of its electricity consumption in its 2022 Sustainability Report. This milestone was achieved by on-site generation through solar panels (5% of total consumption), purchasing renewable energy certificates, and green tariffs.
General Mills has achieved similar results, with renewable sources now meeting 98% of its electricity needs. This is made possible by generating biogas, biomass and solar energy at its facilities and by virtually purchasing renewable electricity.
Meanwhile, US pet food company Freshpet opted to upgrade its chiller fleet, improving energy efficiency by 39.3%. This reduced annual electricity consumption – despite the company adding more units.
Freshpet also avoided an estimated 1,169 tonnes of GHG emissions during the year through its on-site wastewater treatment plants. Instead of being sent to landfill, the organic material was converted into electricity through anaerobic digestion or processed into fertilizer for agricultural use.
A comparable approach has been adopted by General Mills, which is processing part of the solid waste from its production to use for energy recovery. These initiatives show that companies are increasingly merging multiple strategies to achieve carbon targets.
Advances in sustainable packaging
Another area where manufacturers can make considerable sustainability gains is in packaging. All eyes were on European efforts in this arena earlier this year, when flexible packaging producer Gualapack Ukraine won the World Packaging Organisation WorldStar 2026 Award in July.
The prize was awarded for its mono-material pouch for Lviv-based pet food producer Kormotech. Since every element in a mono-material package is made from the same type of polymer, such packaging does not require components to be separated before recycling and it can be processed within a single recycling stream.
According to Gualapack Ukraine, the success of this project proves that the transition to sustainable packaging solutions is possible without compromising quality or product protection.
Meanwhile, the American Packaging Corporation (APC), a flexible packaging solutions producer, expanded access to circular packaging by making Certified-Circular Content solutions available across its six centers. Its materials enable producers of pet food and other brands to replace virgin fossil-based plastics with certified recycled content suitable for direct food- contact packaging.
Less waste destined for landfill
Last year, Mars Petcare expanded its recyclable packaging efforts by introducing recyclable WHISKAS pet food pouches, reducing the packaging’s carbon footprint by 46%. The company’s Veterinary Health business launched a specialty plastic mail-back recycling project globally, diverting 4.3 tonnes of plastic from landfills.
Indiana-based pet food producer Midwestern Pet Foods reduced landfill waste in partnership with recycling company TerraCycle. Its food and treat packaging (made from 25% recycled material) can be 100% recycled through the TerraCycle program. To date, the brand has recycled more than two million bags, diverting in excess of 93,000kg of waste from landfill.
Certification builds trust
With environmental claims under ever-closer scrutiny, many businesses are seeking third-party certifications. Renaud Gautier, Key Account Manager Pet Food at Austrian packaging company Coveris, notes that the ability to demonstrate improvements through the supply chain is becoming a key part of building trust among consumers.
“Certification helps simplify [the process of increasing levels of recycled content and circularity performance] by providing third-party verification of recycled- content sourcing and use, reducing risk around sustainability claims and supporting compliance efforts,” he tells PETS International.
The company recently announced that three of its European sites – one in the UK and two in France – have achieved the highest certification currently available under the RecyClass scheme. This initiative verifies whether recycled plastics are responsibly sourced, accurately tracked and incorporated into packaging at certified levels.
Meanwhile, German ingredients supplier Symrise recently earned the highest rating in the Supplier Engagement Assessment of CDP, a global environmental disclosure organization.
The recognition acknowledges the company’s efforts to advance sustainable sourcing. These include expanding digital emissions tracking and traceability tools to provide customers with greater transparency, and to support reductions in the indirect (Scope 3) emissions generated across the value chain.
Other value chain initiatives
Another example of a Scope 3 initiative comes from Phibro Animal Health. The company has launched its Sustainable Solutions Platform and the brand Verratain Verified Sustainability Solutions, offering a portfolio of low-carbon feed ingredients. The products are designed to help pet food producers reduce Scope 3 emissions by lowering the carbon intensity of feed.
Similarly, dsm-firmenich Animal Nutrition & Health introduced its Sustell carbon value program, which combines ISO-assured carbon footprint measurements, emissions transfer protocols and animal nutrition expertise to help companies reduce emissions and comply with reporting requirements.
Investments and alliances
In the past year, various pet sector companies have embarked on new investments, alliances and initiatives to advance new and innovative sustainability strategies. Such efforts are increasingly focusing on regenerative agriculture, alternative and lower-impact proteins, supplier-specific life cycle data and circular packaging systems, according to Allison Reser Hamburger, Director of Sustainability & Innovation at the Pet Sustainability Coalition (PSC).
Some players are also widening their perspective to consider environmental impacts that have traditionally received less attention. “Nature-related goals – including biodiversity, water stewardship, soil health and land-use impacts – are still less common in the pet sector. But much of the industry’s footprint is connected to agricultural ingredients, animal-derived inputs, forestry-based materials and water-dependent supply chains,” Reser Hamburger says.
The rise of regenerative agriculture
The adoption of regenerative agriculture is being driven by strategic partnerships across the broader food and beverage sectors, including pet food. For instance, human and animal nutrition company ADM expanded its regenerative agriculture efforts through a multi-year partnership with Colgate-Palmolive’s pet business, Hill’s Pet Nutrition. The collaboration covers about 16,000 acres of corn and soybean fields in the US and 2,500 acres of soybean fields in Hungary.
At the same time, pet food manufacturers are working with retailers to scale these practices. General Mills
has partnered with Walmart and its retail warehouse subsidiary Sam’s Club to accelerate regenerative agriculture across 600,000 acres by 2030, including to supply its pet food brands.
General Mills describes regenerative agriculture as a concept that “treats the health of soil, water, plants, animals, people and planet as interconnected, and places life at the center of every action and decision. Through regenerative agriculture, farmers and ranchers produce good food for people in ways that protect, enhance and foster life, by harnessing powerful ecological processes and cycles rather than trying to bypass or overcome them”.
Improving water stewardship
As manufacturers seek to reduce freshwater consumption and improve reuse in production, water stewardship is becoming a growing focus across the pet industry. Companies are investing in rainwater harvesting, wastewater treatment and closed-loop systems to lower operational water demand while supporting broader sustainability goals.
These and other examples indicate that significant industry-wide progress is being made in measuring environmental impacts, preparing for packaging regulations, reviewing sustainability claims, and ensuring company-level integration of sustainability into sourcing and business strategy.
The approach reduces freshwater consumption at facilities in the Netherlands, Spain and Poland. In addition, 15 of the company’s plants operate on-site wastewater treatment facilities that recycle and purify water.
And in the US, Freshpet has expanded reuse across its operations. Wastewater at its 15,000sq ft treatment facility is reused in the cooling system at its Kitchen production facility in Texas. And in Pennsylvania, underground reservoirs capable of storing up to 427,500 gallons (over 1.6 million liters) of rainwater supply irrigation for 62,000sq ft of landscaping.
Keeping up the pressure
These and other examples indicate that significant industry-wide progress is being made in measuring environmental impacts, preparing for packaging regulations, reviewing sustainability claims and company-level integration of sustainability into sourcing and business strategy.
However, the industry still lacks comparable public data, making it difficult to assess sector-wide emissions reductions and overall sustainability performance. Currently, the PSC classifies the pet industry as being at “an early-to-mid stage of sustainability maturity”.
“The biggest challenge is balancing cost, compliance and ambition. Pet companies are operating in a more complex environment: affordability pressure remains high, regulations are expanding, and often small sustainability teams are being asked to show clearer business value,” concludes the PSC’s Reser Hamburger.
Nevertheless, the association expects policy to continue moving toward practical improvement over time, especially targeting lower material intensity, verified claims and stronger incentives for companies that make measurable progress.
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