How to align sustainable petfood with pricing

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Mars Lovebug launch image

With recession looming, UK petfood suppliers might be forgiven for putting green initiatives aside.

But Inspired Pet Nutrition marketing director Chris Wragg says sustainability can actually help reduce costs. “Businesses that become truly sustainable as input and energy costs rise will be able to continue to sustainably invest in people, capital and brands that will also benefit the consumer in the long run,” he argues.

Many suppliers are taking this approach. Purina is investing in wind farms that can supply all the electricity used by its UK petfood factories and aiming to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. farmers near Purina’s UK factories are also being funded to take a regenerative approach to farming as part of a Landscape Enterprise Networks programme.

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Similarly, natural petfood business Forthglade has invested in a purpose-built factory that enables it to recycle 20 million litres of water on site each year – and recycle food waste by turning it into electricity and biofertiliser.

Lily’s Kitchen, which says it became the world’s first petfood brand to achieve B Corp status in 2015, likewise opened its first warehouse in Europe last year to reduce freight miles. Currently, 94% of its packaging is made from materials that can be easily recycled, and the business is working to 100%.

Butcher’s also says it saved 564 tonnes of plastic in the four years since it removed the plastic shrink-wrap from its tin multipacks and replaced it with recyclable cardboard.

“We have been delighted to see other brands make similar changes in the last year, meaning pet parents now have more sustainable options in the pet aisle than ever before,” says insight head Phil Cotterill.

One example of this is Mars Petcare’s Sheba Hope Reef programme, which sees it working with local communities and relevant groups to restore 185,000 sq m of coral reef by 2029.

According to category director Zoe Taphouse, “when we talk about sustainable choices for consumers, we see this as a long-term trend that is set to continue and far broader than just the product or the packaging”.

To this end, Mars also launched Lovebug catfood (pictured) in March 2021. Its sustainability credentials come from it being made exclusively from insects fed on surplus veg.