Petfood Essentials, the interactive pre-conference seminar at Petfood Forum, kicked off on April 28 with a focus on one big topic: sustainability. Pet food professionals gathered to explore what sustainability really means for the industry today — and where it’s headed. Here are the top five takeaways from this year’s deep dive into pet food sustainability.
Allison Reser, director of sustainability and innovation at the Pet Sustainability Coalition.Lisa Cleaver1. Sustainability is a continuous journey.
Allison Reser, director of sustainability and innovation at the Pet Sustainability Coalition, opened the day with her session, How to Start Your Sustainability Journey.
For companies just beginning their sustainability efforts, Reser emphasized that there’s no shame in starting small. Because sustainability can often feel broad or overwhelming, she encouraged businesses to focus first on identifying the issues most relevant to their operations and stakeholders.
“Progress is more important than perfection,” Reser said. “Some companies hesitate to admit they are in the early phases of their sustainability journey. But every company, no matter how advanced their strategy, has an important next step to take. Identify what that next step is for your company — and act.”
She added that no company achieves perfect sustainability. “Perfection is not the end goal,” Reser said. “Sustainability is a journey, not a one-and-done project. There is no ‘end.’ It’s continuous.”
Reser reminded attendees that starting a sustainability journey doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. “It’s about taking actionable steps,” she said. “Remember: progress over perfection.”
2. We better manage what we measure.
Marty Heller, senior consultant at Blonk Sustainability, explored how life cycle assessments (LCAs) can help pet food companies gauge their sustainability progress during his session, Demystifying Life Cycle Assessment for the Pet Food Industry.
“More and more companies, organizations, citizens, and governments want insights into their environmental footprints and the impacts of their supply chains,” said Heller. “LCAs can inform companies and help substantiate environmental claims. I like to think of an LCA as environmental accounting.”
Heller explained that LCAs have become the standard method for evaluating the environmental impact of a product or service. They are now central to environmental footprinting data used to characterize supply chains, calculate Scope 3 corporate emissions, and inform decisions between competing ingredients.
He emphasized that LCAs provide a comprehensive, science-based evaluation of the environmental impacts associated with every stage of a pet food product’s life cycle — from raw material extraction through production, use and disposal.
“This is a data-intensive process,” Heller noted. “Interpreting and communicating the results can be challenging. To ensure that conclusions are meaningful, it’s essential to maintain a level playing field.”
3. Supplier collaboration key to create supply chain resiliency.
Leveraging insights from the human food sector’s experience with carbon accounting, Gail Tavill, global chief sustainability officer at OSI Group, outlined what is possible for pet foods and pet food ingredients in terms of setting baseline carbon footprint targets, developing strategies to meet those goals, and establishing credible methodologies for making environmental claims.
During her session, Human Food and Pet Food Sectors Working Together to Deliver Sustainability Outcomes, Tavill shared real-world examples of how custom supply chain solutions can deliver verifiable carbon reductions and create value for customers.
Collaborating closely with suppliers and adapting proven practices from the human food sector can help pet food companies set achievable carbon reduction targets and create measurable, claimable sustainability outcomes across the supply chain, Tavill said.
“Engage with your suppliers to have a meaningful exchange to adopt meaningful measures,” she advised. “It adds value to everyone’s sustainability objectives.”
Standards are essential for generating consistent, credible carbon footprint data and enabling pet food companies to drive meaningful emissions reductions, said Janjoris van Diepen, footprint director for North America at Mérieux NutriSciences/Blonk Sustainability, during his session, Standardizing the environmental footprints of pet food ingredients.
Van Diepen explained that as companies set targets to lower greenhouse gas emissions, they create a strong pull for accurate data throughout the supply chain—requiring pet food producers to implement carbon footprint management strategies and develop clear decarbonization pathways.
Ingredients remain the primary driver of carbon emissions in pet food production, he noted, and their environmental footprints can vary widely depending on sourcing, accounting methods, and the quality of data used.
Van Diepen also highlighted the importance of the updated Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR), released by the European Commission in early 2025. These guidelines provide a transparent methodology for conducting life cycle assessments (LCAs), helping ensure consistency and comparability across products within the same category.
“Standards are critical because they define a consistent methodology for calculating emissions,” said van Diepen. “Without them, results can vary so much that comparisons become meaningless and efforts to track progress lose credibility It is also key for the pet food industry in developing a greenhouse gas emission reduction strategy.”
Simone Obetti, CEO of Velvet USALisa Cleaver
5. Sustainable packaging requires more than material changes.
The transition to sustainable packaging materials, such as recyclable and compostable options, is reshaping the pet food industry, driven by shifting consumer preferences and growing regulatory demands.
In his session, Rethinking Pet Food Packaging: How Sustainability Shapes the Future, Simone Obetti, CEO of Velvet USA, highlighted the many critical functions packaging must fulfill — protecting the product during transport, preserving freshness and flavor, resisting mechanical stress, standing upright on shelves, informing consumers, meeting diverse regulations, representing the brand, and operating seamlessly on production lines.
“We don’t often think of all these must-haves when it comes to packaging,” said Obetti. “Science and technology have helped meet those demands. But now we need packaging that also protects the environment and provides solutions for the planet’s future.”
Obetti discussed the necessary trade-offs and production chain modifications associated with sustainable materials, sharing case studies of successful transitions.
“Embracing sustainability in pet food packaging is not just about materials,” he said. “It’s about mindset, collaboration and resilience.”
Key strategies Obetti outlined for advancing sustainable packaging initiatives include:
Make a strategic plan: Define clear goals around sustainability, recyclability and compostability, and analyze market expectations alongside regulatory trends.
Engage the entire value chain: Share goals and challenges openly with partners, co-design solutions across all stages, and advocate for better recycling infrastructure and regulatory evolution.
Be ready to accept compromises: Prioritize essential functions like product barrier protection and shelf life, and understand trade-offs between performance and sustainability based on product type and market needs.
Stay resilient: View setbacks as opportunities to learn and innovate, continue testing new materials and technologies, and remember that continuous improvement is more valuable than perfection.
Allison Reser, director of sustainability and innovation at the Pet Sustainability Coalition.Lisa Cleaver
Simone Obetti, CEO of Velvet USALisa Cleaver