Pet food buyers have the tools at their disposal online to investigate whether companies are following through on their commitments to pet food sustainability, or merely greenwashing their products. A pledge isn’t sufficient, pet owners want evidence backing up commitments to ecology and human rights. Nestle Purina PetCare released information on how the company is meeting sustainability goals in its Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (EMENA) division, in Purina in Society Report 2018. Purina EMENA operated factories in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK.
Purina PetCare EMENA pet food packaging sustainability
In 2017, Purina EMENA avoided 787 metric tons of packaging, which meant an overall 3.46% reduction in packaging. The division saved an equivalent amount of packaging in 2018, for a further 0.7% reduction in packaging. Since 2015, Purina EMENA has saved a total of 3,542 metric tons of packaging, which exceeded the company’s goal of 3,000 metric tons by 2019. In 2018, 64% of Purina EMENA’s packaging was covered by responsible sourcing audits.
Recyclability of Purina EMENA’s packaging:
- 67% - widely recyclable
- 6% - limited recyclability
- 27% - hard to recycle
As an example of how the company is reducing plastic usage, the report presented how Purina EMENA reduced the thickness of the PE25 plastic layer in packages for brands incuding Purina One Bifensis and Purina Friskies Junior. The lining thickness was reduced at Purina’s factories in Portograuro, Italy, Montfort, France, Sudbury, UK, Marconnelle, France and Vorsino, Russia. This initiative helped the company reduce 174.6 metric tons of duplex laminate and 353.7 metric tons of triplex laminate, for a total of 528.3 metric tons of plastic packaging avoided by the dog, cat and other pet food manufacturer in Europe.
About Nestle Purina PetCare
Globally, Nestle Purina PetCare’s annual revenue in 2018 reached US$13.2 billion, according to Petfood Industry’s Top Pet Food Companies Current Data.
Nestlé Purina claims three headquarters globally: St. Louis, Missouri, USA, for its North American and Latin American operations; Lausanne, Switzerland, in Europe; and Sydney, Australia, covering Asia, Oceania and Africa. Its parent company Nestlé's world headquarters are in Vevey, Switzerland.
