Inspired Pet Nutrition – Reducing our Carbon Pawprint
It is difficult to imagine our lives without pets. In these days of social isolation, our pets give us the sense of community and belonging which are missing from our modern-day lives. But pets come at a price. They can foul our environment and use up valuable resources. Pet food manufacture is energy intensive and has the potential to harm the environment. At Inspired Pet Nutrition our aim is to reduce our carbon pawprint.
At Inspired Pet Nutrition we are fully aware that anything that doesn’t end up eaten by a dog, a cat or a guinea pig, is waste. All waste is considered a valuable resource and is monitored closely. Be it waste plastic pallet wrap, cardboard boxes, paper, product waste or anything else that doesn’t get eaten by our pets, we study how and why it is produced, and introduce measures to limit and reduce it. Our Continuous Improvement Team constantly strives to find ways to reduce our waste streams.
Electricity and gas are essential for our manufacturing operations. Raw materials are milled in grinders, mixed, conditioned with oil and steam, extruded and then dried. These are energy intensive processes which require careful monitoring. All of our monitoring of resources and wastes are measured against this process. Resources are measured daily, for example, it takes so many kilowatt hours of gas to produce one tonne of product, and doing so gives us a clear indication of where waste energy might originate. This can provide us with an insight how we can reduce energy usage, and has enabled us to make processes more energy efficient and cost-effective.
We are continually trying to improve and streamline our processes and environmental training has proved to be an integral part of our operations. We aim to engage with our staff on many levels – from training modules and powerpoint presentations to conducting one-on-one surveys, using noticeboards and the intranet to generate interest and discussion. All staff undergo environmental awareness training at induction. Managing our environmental impact is a team effort – everyone has their part to play.
It would be a mistake to think that we are perfect. Far from it. We are on a journey. There are multiple speed-bumps, diversions along the way and occasionally we get lost. Our journey is only just beginning. But the route is taking us in the right direction.
We cannot escape our carbon pawprint. But by analysing and examining the imprint we are leaving behind us, we can start to make a difference.
“IPN realizes that ‘sustainability’ is not just about our emissions, our wastes or our carbon footprint. For IPN ‘sustainability’ means ensuring that the environment – local, national and global is not harmed by anything we do; it means that we take responsibility for our environmental impacts; we aim to mitigate all waste of materials and resources, and that by securing economic vitality we support and empower ourselves and our stakeholders.”
Chris Cole, Environmental Co-ordinator, Inspired Pet Nutrition
We owe a debt of gratitude to the Investors in the Environment, iiE has been a source of inspiration to us. The information they have supplied us with has given us lots of ideas how we can lower our environmental impacts, reduce wastes, reduce costs and record and monitor resources. iiE has offered support at every stage of the process with the consequence that we do not feel isolated in what we are trying to achieve.
The workshops have been really useful – meeting others with similar problems to our own and coming up with ideas and assistance where they have been able to. iiE has enabled us to ‘think outside the box’ and become more innovative in our approach to environmental matters. They have given us aims where we might have floundered and encouragement to continue to improve.
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