Wet and dry cat food specialist Purr & Miaow has introduced Purr-cycle, a recycling initiative launched in the UK in partnership with Enval to prevent cat food pouches ending up as landfill.
Purr & Miaow noted that every year 10 billion pouches made of aluminum and plastic are sold in the pet food, baby food and drinks sectors, but only 20,000 of these currently recycled. The recycling rate of pouches is 50 times worse than that of the single-use coffee cups, it stated.
With a typical cat food owner using 1,000 pouches a year and 1.1 million cats in the UK, Purr & Miaow has launched Purr-cycle. To recycle with Purr-cycle, an order is placed online at www.purrandmiaow.com for 10 recycling bags for £9.99. This sees 10 prepaid envelopes delivered to post pouches back directly to Enval. As up to 25 pouches can be returned in each prepaid postage bag, this allows up to 250 pouches to be recycled at a cost of four pence per pouch. Enval, using its unique recycling technology, will separate the aluminum foil and the plastic in the pouches. The postage bags are also recycled.
The Enval process uses microwave-induced pyrolysis to heat and break down organic material, such as paper or plastic, in the absence of oxygen. It allows for the disposal of industrial and post-consumer waste while producing valuable products that can be used as chemical feedstock or to generate energy.
Pooch & Mutt founder Guy Blaskey launched Purr & Miaow to help the nation’s cats lead happier, healthier lives, but faced environmental concerns over the disposal of pet food pouches.
‘From our research, we know that cat owners love feeding cat pouches more than any other format, but we know that they want to have the option to recycle them,’ he commented. ‘For dogs, we launched in Tetra Pak which is a more environmentally-friendly option than a can or plastic tray. However, as of yet, there aren’t widely adopted schemes for the recycling of pouches. We couldn’t in good conscience launch pouches without partnering with someone capable of recycling them.’
Little Freddie, a premium organic baby and toddler food company, has partnered with Enval to introduce a similar zero-waste-to-landfill recycling scheme for pouches. With the launch of Purr-cycle, Purr & Miaow is the first pet food company to join what Enval is calling the ‘Laminates League’.
Carlos Ludlow-Palafox, Enval CEO, said: ‘We’re delighted to welcome Purr & Miaow as the newest member of the “Laminates League”. We receive increasing numbers of enquiries from cat owners asking if there is a way for them to recycle the pouches that they use and we look forward to being able to reply that now there is, and that by buying products from Purr & Miaow they will be supporting a brand that really puts environmental concerns at the top of their priorities.
‘Our aim with the Laminates League is to show local authorities, waste handling companies and material reprocessors that our technology is a reality and should be an essential part of their recycling plans. Creating integrated recycling solutions for materials that used to be trickier to deal with is what Enval is all about and we are delighted to be working with Purr & Miaow and Little Freddie, the organic baby food company, on this. These brands are offering customers a real circular economy recycling scheme for their post-consumer packaging. We hope to see many more brands follow suit.’
Purr-Cycle will operate on a not-for-profit basis. The Purr-cycle price covers the postage cost to customers, 10 freepost envelopes back and the recycling.
Blaskey added: ‘We’ll make no profits on Purr-cycle. We know that people will be willing to pay for the bags, as we know that consumers are more environmentally conscious than ever before. Sales of reusable coffee cups have soared throughout the UK in recent years because people are willing to spend more if it means they can contribute to helping the environment. It’s time to stop wasting enough pouches to cover the UK two times a day and start recycling today with Purr-cycle – no profits and no waste.’
