Exploring Pet Sustainability & Impacts, Pet Ownership & Social Justice, and How Pets Are A Bridge Back to Nature w/ Melissa Bauer (Pet Sustainability Coalition)

Did you know that if you add up the cats and dogs in the United
States, they’d represent the 5th largest population of protein
consumption in the world? When it comes to pet supply chains and
sustainability, there is typically 1 sector called "pet services
and products”. This one sector, encompasses dozens of other
industries that have many categories in human supply
chains. For example, apparel, food, medicine, and
healthy/beauty are considered dramatically different industries
in the human world, but we buy good and services for our pets in
all those areas and more. 


The environmental impact of the pet sector is huge. Did you know
that 300 million pounds of packaging is sent to land fill each
year? Finally, the pet industry has often overlooked and serious
social sustainability challenges as well. Pet ownership has
been directly linked to home ownership, but with systematic
racist policies historically making home ownership out of reach
for communities of color, what are the Justice, Equality,
Diversity, and Inclusion implications of the industry itself? Why
aren’t people aware or talking about this? 


In Episode 40, Sheri Hinish discusses massive opportunities in
pet sustainability, in caring differently for our furry friends,
with MelissaBauer from the Pet Sustainability
Coalition. PSC has a super cool origin story starting with
Chris Bentley. A lover of life and an environmentalist at heart,
Chris Bentley has spent several decades looking for ways to
minimize his environmental footprint. Based in Colorado, Chris
was active in the entrepreneurial business community where he saw
the Natural Foods movement adopt Organic Certification and the
Outdoor Industry collaborate to build innovative sustainability
tools. With over 25 years of success in the pet products
industry, first with Aspen Pet and then with Only Natural Pet and
“I and Love and You,” he knew there was an opportunity to drive
impact in an industry he had grown to know and love.


Together with fellow sustainable business leader Marty Grosjean
at Only Natural Pet, Chris partnered with sustainability icon
Hunter Lovins at Natural Capitalism Solutions to develop a suite
of sustainability tools that could provide their respective
companies the resources they needed to implement sustainable
business processes.


The outcome of this project was a world class toolkit built by
Natural Capitalism Solutions that had far reaching potential. The
new vision for these tools was to serve as a transformative
catalyst that would enable the entire pet industry to engage more
positively with the environment and communities where they do
business.


When complete, Chris, Natural Capitalism Solutions, the Outdoor
Industry Association, and 25 business leaders met at Global Pet
Expo 2013 where they formed a new nonprofit collaborative that
would share tools and resources to encourage adoption of
sustainable business practices. KD Frueh at KONG Company, Tony de
Vos at Cardinal Pet Care, Jim Thomas at Petco, Spencer Williams
at West Paw, Stephanie Volo at Planet Dog, and Aaron Lambstein at
Worldwise joined Only Natural Pet and I and Love and You to
become Founding Members of the Pet Sustainability Coalition.
These 8 Founding Members continued to make large financial
contributions for five consecutive years that served as the
Coalition’s primary revenue and lifeblood!


To get involved and learn more about Pet Sustainability
Coalition, visit https://www.petsustainability.org


Find us, connect, and explore at
https://www.supplychainrevolution.com/ & Sheri Hinish at
https://www.supplychainqueen.com