PET Food Processing - March 2019 - 72

PACKAGING

"A significant challenge is finding packaging that's
food safe to keep our pet food and treats fresh,
yet sustainably produced and recyclable."
Katie McNulty, Earthborn Holistic

TerraCycle works with
companies around
the world to reduce
their environmental
impact by providing
infrastructure and incentives for recycling
and upcycling packaging into durable
consumer goods like
park benches and
dog bowls.
TerraCycle

natural ingredients demonstrates this parallel market
movement," Riley remarks.
At the same time - and arguably making package design more complicated for pet food companies and their
packaging partners - manufacturers must consider
other demands from pet owners shopping both online
and in stores. Features like convenience, shelf life and
premium shelf or screen appeal are perennial in nature.
The advent of e-commerce and convenience-oriented
packages like single-serve cups can cause a quandary,
says David Foster, director of packaging development,
Adept Packaging, a packaging engineering and consulting company in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. "Both
of those drivers have a conflict with sustainability," he
points out. "But what is important is that brand owners,
as a whole, are being driven by the larger community to
improve the sustainability of their products."
The popularity of pouches is another sticky widget of
sorts for this industry. "Wet pet food in a pouch would
be more eco-friendly in terms of carbon footprint, but
the recyclability portion isn't there yet for pouches. This
is a major concern for the industry," explains Julian
Stauffer, chief operating officer, Packaging Technologies
and Inspection (PTI), Tuckahoe, New York. However,
Mars Incorporated and global recycling company
TerraCycle, Trenton, New Jersey, have made recycling

PET FOOD PROCESSING | March 2019 | www.petfoodprocessing.net

wet pet food pouches possible in the United Kingdom,
along with other flexible pet food packaging, through
their recycling program.
There are other challenges within the industry, too.
"Sustainable solutions are complex and contain many
trade-offs. For example, there are some manufacturers marketing degradable plastics, but this has the risk
of introducing microplastics into the environment over
time. Recyclable packaging seems like a great solution
but requires a concerted effort to introduce appropriate
collection and recycling infrastructure across communities," says Weijia Zhang, business development manager,
Peel Plastic Products Limited, Brampton, Ontario.
And it isn't just the consumer-facing package that
should be scrutinized. "Pet food manufacturers should
look at every aspect of their packaging," says Stauffer
of further packaging for shipping and distribution like
shrink wrapping and cardboard sleeves.

Sustainable solutions and innovations

There is an array of packaging, from leading brands and
niche brands alike, that offers more than eye appeal,
shelf life, convenience and other traditional packaging
attributes. Many packaging suppliers are working with
companies on innovations that can reduce the carbon
pawprint, so to speak, of pet food products. Some of
those solutions include bio-based materials.
For instance, the Boulder, Colorado-based Only
Natural Pet brand has partnered with packaging suppliers Peel Plastics and Braskem to integrate 30% bioplastic packaging material into its
Mindful Meals dry dog food bags. Riley cites that
project as a successful collaboration to improve
sustainability without sacrificing the quality appeal
of the product. "Developed in conjunction with Peel
Plastics, the new sustainable pet food packaging uses
Braskem's sugarcane-based green biopolymer to
support Only Natural Pet's commitment to environmental sustainability and carbon reduction," he explains.
Zhang says this joint endeavor is one example of future-focused packaging. "Peel has been
very active with sustainable materials, having
worked with several pet food brands in the past
15 months to launch portfolios with renewably

PET Food Processing - March 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of PET Food Processing - March 2019