Sustainable Products: Driving Progress Across the Pet Industry

People and pets can’t thrive without a healthy planet. Petco’s Head of Sustainability, Francesca Mahoney, shares how we’re accelerating our sustainability progress and leading change in the pet industry.

A concern for the health of our planet is a natural extension of our concern for the health and wellbeing of pets. As a pet health and wellness company, we are acutely aware of the pet industry’s impact on our planet’s natural resources. That’s why we’re raising the bar for sustainability in pet care by offering more sustainable products and services to our pet parents. We joined the Pet Sustainability Coalition (PSC), which gives us opportunities to learn directly from sustainability experts, share best practices, and collectively raise the bar to advance industry-wide sustainability.

Petco was proud to receive the Earth Hero Award in March 2021. “The Earth Hero Award recognizes a member of the coalition whose sustainability efforts in the past year have been exceptional and had a significant impact on the industry.” - Pet Sustainability Coalition

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We are walking our talk. Our Reddy brand combines style and sustainability. We are striving to provide pet parents with durable products they can feel great about using long-term, so there is less waste. Reddy products are also made using recycled materials.

Petco is committed to increasing its assortment of sustainable products to 50% by the end of 2025. Sustainable products at Petco must align with at least one the following five sustainability pillars:

Responsible Manufacturing

Brands and products that use responsible manufacturing practices during production

Sustainably Sourced Materials

Products made with materials like organic cotton or recycled nylon

Sustainably Sourced Ingredients

Food and treats made with ingredients that are more environmentally friendly or emit fewer greenhouse gases

Responsible Packaging

Packaging designed to be refilled with the same type of product or for multiple uses

Animal Welfare

Brands helping to ensure animals are treated humanely and products meet Petco's cruelty-free standard

To learn more and to explore our sustainable product assortment, visit petco.com/sustainability.

Sustainable Operations

Sustainable Operations

PETCO PARTNERS ARE DRIVING INTEGRATION

Over the past couple of years, Petco has taken steps to reduce our environmental impact. We are tackling waste, removing it where possible, and diverting it from landfills through recycling. We’re also testing innovative approaches to packaging, disposal, and behavior change with the goal of bringing them to scale.We look for ways to minimize waste and the use of virgin materials throughout our operations – from the way our products are designed, packaged, and disposed of, to our use of printed materials in Pet Care Centers. Over the past three years that we have been tracking our data in this area, our performance has remained consistent in terms of the percentage of waste we are diverting from landfill, however, we know that there is much more we could do, and we will be searching for ways to improve our performance over the coming year.

“It’s the little things. It’s the incremental changes that make the world a better place…we’ve done small changes, but we’re on the cusp of making big ones."- Shane Hall, VP Construction and Maintenance

We have also installed energy management systems in 98% of Petco Pet Care Centers. These systems have reduced our energy consumption by 4 million kilowatt hours each year, reducing our carbon footprint by 2,828 metric tons of CO2. That’s the same amount of energy used by 515 U.S. homes in a year!

Petco Distribution Centers have diverted 64% of waste from landfills
Our Pet Care Centers installed a total of 853 water saving bathing systems
Solar panel system produced approximately 1,100 MWh of electricity for our national support center in San Diego
We saved more than 65K pounds of plastic packaging material

We are committed to integrating sustainability throughout our business. Our Petco partners are driving more than a dozen sustainability projects. Watch to learn more from project leaders

Petco Sustainability - Single Use Plastic
Petco Sustainability - Started as a Bottle

Responsible Marine Aquatic Life Sourcing

We are committed to ensuring that our vendors responsibly source all animal life we offer.

In 2021, more than 96% of the aquatic life sold in our Petco Pet Care Centers was aquacultured – born, bred, and raised in an aquarium environment, rather than taken from the oceans – including 100% of our freshwater fish and coral.

Petco is leading the industry in improving standards around the responsible collection, transportation, and handling of saltwater fish and corals. We purchase aquatic life exclusively from suppliers that maintain responsible practices outlined in our Marine Aquatic Life Vendor Standards of Excellence. We regularly review the sustainability of all marine species in our assortment and discontinue the sale of those that can no longer continue to be sourced responsibly.

*Petco defines assortment as total average items (SKUs) by store. This includes all omnichannel items (items in our Pet Care Centers and on Petco.com) and live animals. It excludes Petco.com only items, clearance, and discontinued items. Petco defines sustainable products as items that meet a minimum of 1 Petco sustainable product attribute. As we continue to evaluate and further develop our sustainability program to ensure we are meeting the needs of our guests and identifying new ways to make a positive impact on our planet, Petco reserves the right to re-evaluate and evolve these attributes.