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Open Farm and TerraCycle team up to offer ethically sourced dog food — with recyclable packaging

Open Farm and TerraCycle team up to offer ethically sourced dog food — with recyclable packaging

We want our food organic and ethically sourced.

We care about packaging: we want less of it, and for it to be recyclable or reusable — or even edible.

And apparently we want the same things for our pets.

Human food trends are increasingly influencing pet-food product development, in part because we humanize our pets and want to offer them treats that reflect our food-buying values, writes Debbie Phillips-Donaldson, editor-in-chief of Petfood Industry.

(And, like us, pets are getting fatter and we’re starting to pay closer attention to their diets.)

Open Farm, a new family-run Canadian pet food company devoted to sourcing ethical, high-quality, local ingredients, is catering to our increasingly high standards when it comes to feeding Fido or Fluffy.

“Consumers are more educated than ever when it comes to their own food choices and are increasingly applying high standards to what they look for in pet food. This is because, more and more, dogs and cats are viewed and cared for as members of the family. As people have become more focused on where their food comes from and how it is produced, this same critical eye has been applied when choosing food for their pets,” Jacqueline Prehogan, president of Open Farm, writes in an email to Yahoo Canada.

“By applying strict standards in our sourcing process, Open Farm provides these pet owners with an option that aligns with their personal eating habits and values. All of the meat and poultry used in our recipes is Certified Humane®, meaning it comes from farm animals that are fed a healthy vegetarian diet, free of antibiotics and growth hormones, and that are raised with space, shelter, and the ability to engage in their natural behaviours. Along the same lines, our “Catch-of-the-Day” fish model is the first of its kind and uses exclusively ocean-caught, seasonally sourced fish in collaboration with Ocean Wise™ and the Vancouver Aquarium.“

Open Farm isn’t just boasting an impressive farm-to-table bowl supply chain, it’s also offering something relatively unheard of in the pet-food industry: a plan for recycling its packaging.

“In order to reduce our environmental footprint, we have launched the first nationwide pet food bag-recycling program in partnership with TerraCycle. Since over 95 per cent of dog food bags are non-recyclable today, we are providing customers with a free and easy way to recycle their bags, converting them to brand new products instead of sending them to the landfill,” Prehogan says.

TerraCycle’s Vanessa Farquharson explains to us how the program — “Open Farm Brigade” — works:

“Go to our ‘Open Farm Brigade’ page, click on the ‘Join Now’ button and then start collecting your empty bags,” Farquharson says. “Once you’ve amassed enough to fill a standard cardboard box, return to our website to download and print a shipping label, stick it on the box, and call UPS for next-day pickup. It’ll be sent to us and recycled, free of charge. When we receive the shipment, your account will be credited with TerraCycle points, which can be redeemed for a donation to your favourite school, nonprofit or charity, such as a local animal shelter or rescue organization.”

Once TerraCycle received enough of the Open Farm packaging, the recycling — and upcycling — can begin, Farquharson says.

“The majority of this type of waste gets recycled into plastic food/water bowls, but we always try to upcycle as much as possible, which is why our design team has already created a few prototypes for dog collars and leashes made from Open Farm packaging. Down the road, these would be made available for purchase on our website.”

“Under no circumstances do we ever incinerate waste or send it to landfill,” she adds.

TerraCycle has other recycling and up cycling “brigades” in place for other hard-to-recycle products: diaper packaging, Nespresso capsules, inject cartridges, cigarette waste and air fresheners.

“It may sound surprising, but the reality is that we can recycle almost anything; it’s just a matter of creating the means to let it happen,” Farquharson writes.

Follow the Open Farm’s journey from #FarmToBowl through its social media channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Do you expect your pet’s food to reflect your own dietary values?

This woman believed so strongly in the quality nutrition her pet store’s food offered furry family members that she only ate pet food for a month.