Premium pet nutrition brand Royal Canin has joined forces with TerraCycle tolaunch a free recycling program for Aussies who can now recycle their ROYALCANIN® and EukanubaTM pet food bags at veterinary practices across Australia.
With over 55 million pet food bags and wet-food pouches sold in 2020 alone,Australia’s scientific pet nutrition brand is extending its care beyond petsto looking after the planet with The Royal Canin Recycling Program inpartnership with TerraCycle.
The program, which has already launched in veterinary clinics across thecountry, will significantly reduce the amount of pet food packaging that endsup in landfill each year.
Matt Foster, General Manager of Royal Canin Pacific has said that theinitiative underpins Royal Canin’s wider goal to provide a sustainable futurefor pets, people and the planet.
“Without a doubt, pets play such an important role and improve our lives in somany ways. Our mission at Royal Canin is to create a better world for petsthrough health, nutrition and responsible pet ownership. Partnering withTerraCycle is one way we’re working towards creating a better, and sustainableworld, for our pets across the country.
“The pet food industry is one of the largest industries in the country, withmore than 7.5 million cats and dogs in Australia alone. However, much of thispet food packaging can end up in landfill as most of these products cannot berecycled through kerbside recycling collection. If you imagine the averagemedium adult dog consumes 22 bags of dry food and 730 pouches of wet food eachyear, you can easily see how vast the packaging issue is in our country.
“Our Royal Canin Recycling Program is working to reduce this environmentalimpact while also connecting pet owners and pets with their local veterinarycommunity. We’ve strategically partnered with vet clinics as our collectionnetwork as we strongly believe all pets should have access to veterinaryhealth and care throughout their lives.
“Our goal for our first year is to prevent 20,000kg of packaging from enteringlandfill and to connect many more pets with their local vet clinic.”
Jean Bailliard, General Manager of TerraCycle Australia and New Zealand haspraised Royal Canin for taking responsibility and providing a sustainablesolution for pet owners.
“The pet industry has grown substantially over the last year, fueled by theincrease in pet adoption throughout 2020. The majority of all pet foodpackaging is made from flexible plastic or multi-material packaging. Thesecomplex materials are difficult to recycle and frequently not accepted inkerbside recycling.
“It’s amazing to be a part of an initiative that will make a huge differencein creating a positive future, not only for pet owners but also pets.”
The Royal Canin Recycling Program has partnered with Vision Australia’s SeeingEye Dogs, with $1 for every 1kg of packaging returned through the program togo towards the incredible and life-changing work Seeing Eye Dogs does forvisually impaired Australians.
“Over the next 12 months, Seeing Eye Dogs aims to train and match more than 40Seeing Eye Dogs with handlers all across Australia. This partnership with theRoyal Canin Recycling Program will play an important part in our fundraisingefforts to help ensure we can continue to support Australians who are blind orhave low vision live the life they choose,” said Lester Chriam, ClientServices Manager, Vision Australia Seeing Eye Dogs.
With more than 80 clinics on board around Australia, Royal Canin is invitingall of its veterinary clinic partners to join the program to help fight wastein the pet care industry.
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