Reducing impact right from the start
The PSC is a non-profit organization that accelerates pet businesses through social and environmental impact strategies. PSC offers consulting, education, and a suite of tools that stimulate competitive advantage by showing companies how to measure and improve environmental and social impacts aligned with meaningful business outcomes.
Design process
Did you know that 80% of a product’s social and environmental impact can be mitigated in the initial design process? A unique pilot programme co-ordinated by the PSC in collaboration with the SAC is empowering more pet hard-good producers to evaluate potential impact right from the start.
Basing their work on known sustainability leaders like Patagonia and Adidas, who have been designing for minimal impact for years, a group of US-based pet companies are proving that designing for impact can simultaneously improve efficiency in the design process, saving companies time and money.
Given that market demand is growing for sustainable and socially equitable products, there is a tremendous business opportunity for pet companies that can demonstrate their product’s environmental and social performance.
The Higg Index
Leveraging the Higg Index, developed by the SAC, PSC has brought these easy-to-use, comprehensive sustainability tools to PSC member companies such as WestPaw, Molly Mutt, Worldwise and Jax&Bones. The Higg Design & Development Module (Higg DDM) sheds light on the environmental impact of product design choices.
The Higg Index is a suite of tools that enables brands, retailers, and facilities of all sizes to accurately measure and score a company or product’s sustainability performance. It delivers a holistic overview that empowers businesses to make meaningful improvements. Materials Sustainability Index (Higg MSI), is part of the Higg Index, a cross-industry suite of sustainability tools collaboratively developed by the SAC’s members.
The Higg DDM enables designers to understand the impact of designs—such as resource depletion, greenhouse gas emissions, water use, etc.—as well as experiment with more sustainable options available in the database. Within a matter of minutes, a company’s designer can plug and play with a variety of materials and get clear data on the comparative impact and inevitable trade-offs that every product carries.