Auckland-based petfood company Feed my Fur Baby is making waves across the Tasman for its award-nominated use of sustainable and innovative packaging design.
The company, which only launched in January and offers a subscription service for petfood using a unique algorithm to provide regular tailored meals to hungry pets, has been awarded high commendation in the Australasian Packaging Innovation and Design Awards.
In addition to some unique design features such as a removable window and a custom ‘portion-control scoop’, the packaging has been nominated for innovative use of cardboard in an industry dominated by thick plastic packaging, co-founder Ben Rennell says. “The global pet food industry has a significant environmental impact and large, plastic packaging is a major factor in this. We believe this has to change.”
The company avoids the use of secondary packaging in the supply chain, which means the same box is used to pack, transport, bulk store and ship to the end customer in the same packaging with no additional tapes or wraps.
“The team are now working on ways to improve the design and sustainability of the packaging, including multi-use use of the box to further reduce material usage and increase environmental efficiencies,” Rennell says. “We are also working towards product traceability to provide ethical transparency within the supply chain. Watch this space.”
More than 25,000kg of plastic waste is littered in New Zealand each day, and the pet food industry is worth $400 million in New Zealand.
