PSC launches flexible packaging store drop-off collaborative

Pet Sustainability CoalitionThe Pet Sustainability Coalition (PSC) and Hill's Pet Nutrition have formed the Pet Specialty Store-Drop-Off (SDO) Action Collaborative, bringing together pet industry companies to address the end-of-life challenges of flexible plastic pet food packaging.

Flexible pet food packaging is made of multiple fused layers of material and is not accepted in most curbside recycling programs, meaning the vast majority ends up in landfills, noted PSC. The collaborative is designed to develop and pilot a store drop-off collection system allowing consumers to return empty pet food bags at participating pet retail locations across the U.S.

Founding participants include brand Hill's Pet Nutrition; retailers PetSmart and Petco; and packaging companies Peel Plastics and Morris Packaging. The initiative builds on PSC's earlier packaging work, including its 2020 "Flex Forward" program.

Leveraging collective power

The collaborative has four stated objectives: designing a scalable store drop-off program; generating verifiable data on participation, volumes, logistics, and end-of-life pathways; fostering industry collaboration within antitrust guidelines; and securing resources for pilot implementation.

"This new SDO Action Collaborative is designed to leverage collective power," said Allison Reser, director of sustainability and innovation at PSC. "The group will design the program and generate rigorous, verifiable data. This data is the key: it has the potential to demonstrate the viability of diverting flexible film packaging from landfills and the capability to be widely recyclable under emerging EPR laws."

PSC is seeking additional companies to support the next phase of pilot implementation across four areas: financial support, retail space for collection bins, reverse logistics and aggregation, and end markets and processing. Interested parties can contact Reser at [email protected].

"Hill's Pet Nutrition is proud to be the pioneering partner of the new SDO Action Collaborative," said Ana Genisi, senior director of global packaging at Hill's Pet Nutrition. "Our role as a founding member is to help provide the leadership, resources and commitment necessary to establish a scalable, verified collection system for pet food bags across the pet specialty channel."