A love story between a boy, a girl and poo bags.
It started with aspiration and naivety…
Then came despair and frustration…
Which birthed a deep, strong passion and relentless devotion to create change…
with poo bags.
***
Immerse yourself in the story below...
The Early Days
2018:
Gavin & Alice graduate from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh with distinctions (yay!).
They are in love and officially become boyfriend and girlfriend…
They move to Somerset for their first jobs as mixed-animal veterinary surgeons.
2019:
Alice & Gavin learn of the huge “environmental pawprint” pets have. They launch Pet Impact with a range of products to reduce environmental pawprints. Their ASPIRATION to create positive change is strong.
They sing: “we can build this dream together, standing strong forever, nothing's
gonna stop us now” …
2020:
They notice there are two big contributors to eco-pawprints that outweigh everything else: food and poo bags.
They vow to tackle poo bags.
The Poo Bag Adventure
Spring - summer 2021:
Our power couple look at other “eco-friendly” poo bags on the market. They fall into the trap of believing biodegradable & compostable poo bag misconceptions.
Simply following what everyone else was doing, Alice & Gavin NAIVELY create Pet Impact compostable poo bags.
Winter 2021:
Their compostable poo bags have been selling for just over a month.
Alice uses one to pick up Alfie’s poo and throws it into a dog poo bin.
A: “Hold on. Don’t these compostable poo bags need to go into a compost bin to biodegrade?”
G: “Yeah, but it’s still a good thing in general waste…”
A: “Do we know that for sure?”
Alice & Gavin go into research mode and learn the truth about biodegradable & compostable poo bags.
They are filled with DESPAIR. They had spent their savings making hundreds of thousands of compostable poo bags that are not actually good for the planet.
How could this be? Why is everyone believing the wrong thing?
Their FRUSTRATION grows.
How can greenwashing and misinformation be so prominent?
January 2022:
Alice & Gavin admit their mistake, stop selling compostable poo bags and give away their remaining stock to the few who home-compost their dog poo.
Using research skills and literature review techniques from their veterinary background, they immerse themselves in all things poo bags for 12 months. They speak to sustainability consultants, plastic scientists, factories, local councils, MPs – anyone who had anything to contribute to the topic.
December 2022:
Alice & Gavin have a strange new love and PASSION for poo bags, along with more knowledge and wisdom on the topic.
They are officially poo bag experts.
They know what they must do.
The Era of ReSEAcled
Summer 2023:
Pet Impact launches ReSEAcled Poo Bags.
Within months, they become award-winning and the first in the world to be certified Plastic Negative. Many dog owners appreciate the research and data that back ReSEAcled Poo Bags and offer their support.
Nonetheless, Alice & Gavin also have haters who accuse the couple of greenwashing. But they focus on the change they can make and remain DEVOTED to help well-meaning dog owners do the right thing.
2024:
Gavin proposes to Alice. She says yes. Poo bags are still a significant third wheel in their lives.
Along with their commitment to each other, they commit to help all eco-conscious dog owners use poo bags as a force for good through Pet Impact.
Will we see a happy ending?
As long as we keep pushing for better solutions and ensure that these are backed by evidence and data, we’re hopeful we can make this planet a better place, one dog poo at a time.
With your help, we’re not just hopeful.
We’re certain of it.
Much love,
Alice and Gavin
It's nice to meet you.
Not many people make it all the way down here.
Alice J.
Co-Founder, Veterinary Surgeon, Main Poo Bag Expert
Can and will eat more chocolate than you in one sitting.
Gavin G.
Co-Founder, Veterinary Surgeon, Poo Bag Expert No. 2
Identifies as a Cat Dad but has a company selling dog products.
Stephen W.
Operations Manager, Digital Strategist, All-Round Nice Guy
Does the stuff Gavin and Alice doesn't want to.
Alfie
Top Model, Chief Product Tester, A Good Boy
Squid & Inky
Cats, generally do what they want.
Our commitment
We understand that on this finite planet, the happiness and health of humans, animals and nature are inextricably linked. We are all dependent on each other to survive, which is why sustainability is at the heart of what we do.
For us, sustainability is not an endpoint, but a constantly changing journey.
We never deem a product fully finished because we know that there is always more we can do to reduce its environmental impact. As infrastructure, technology and consumer behaviour change, so does sustainability.
We don’t claim to be perfect because we know that this is rarely the case with any eco-friendly product or service. Instead, we believe in progress over perfection.
We are committed to constantly challenge ourselves to do better and be honest with our customers about our brand and products.
An Overview of Our Impact
Reducing Waste
In a circular economy we need need to go right back to the start, preventing waste and pollution from being created in the first place. Whilst recycling is also a crucial part of the circular economy, it won’t be enough to overcome the immense volume of waste we generate in the first place.
Consider food waste, which accounts for 10% of global green house gas emissions. The waste generated from meat production is staggering, with up to 55% of the carcass being thrown away despite being incredibly nutritious. Therefore pet food offers enormous potential to solve this problem and that of providing quality nutrition to a growing pet population. This is why we choose offal and other animal by-products as dog treats and chews.
All our products are packaged in compact, recyclable boxes, to minimise non-recyclable and unnecessary waste. We never send our products in excess packaging. The majority of our cardboard is FSC, however we’re aiming for 100% by the end of 2023.
We are always looking at ways to reduce our waste. One large source of non-recycable waste has been our release liners from our labels. So more recently we changed to labels which have recycable release liners, helping us to dramatically reduce the quanitity of waste going to landfill.
Responsible Materials and Circular Products
To maintain the intrinsic value of goods, we need to keep resources in circulation for as long as possible, whether that’s as a product itself or its constituent materials.
To achieve this, we endeavour to create high quality and durable products that are built to last, and are designed to be reused multiple times.
In fact our first ever product was based on this principle, that being the reusable pee pad. Each pad can be washed over 300 times, thereby greatly prolonging it’s life compared to the alternative (disposable pads) and also enabling a dramatic reduction in waste. We then moved onto reusable dog nappies, which also work to this circular principle.
We eneavdour to pick our raw materials responsibly. This may mean choosing renewable, biodegradable and low impact materials such as hemp, cork or bamboo. Sometimes it means re-using waste or by-products, such as recycled plastic or offal. Where possible, we use are organic ingredients, such as for our conditioner and shampoo bars.
Finally we never use single-use plastic. If we do have to use plastic it will be recycled or bio-based - whichever is most appropriate.
Regeneration of Nature
By moving from a economy that relies on extraction of finite resources and waste to a circular one, we allow more space for nature to thrive. Instead of continuously degrading nature, we can enable nature to rebuild itself through regenerative farming practices and renewable energy.
We try to work within this framework by powering our home (which currently acts as our office and brand hub!) with renewable energy. Our accounts are with ethical banks who invest in renewable energy instead of fossil fuels (e.g. Triodos and Starling bank).
We choose organic materials where possible and source over 90% of our treats from the UK, and the remainder from the EU. We are proud to support UK farming as we have some of the highest welfare standards in the world. Lastly, through our membership with Mossy Earth, we help fund important re-forestation and re-wilding projects across the globe.
Our Supply Chain
We currently work with manufacturers in the UK and China, but we are also currently exploring alternative suppliers in Europe to reduce the emissions associated with our supply chain.
While we recognise the aspiration to source locally, we found that with certain products this is not actually possible and may be counter productive if the raw materials are sourced far from the manufacturing country. We’ve also found a big barrier to people choosing more sustainable products is affordability. So it is important to us to achieve a balance of sustainability and affordability when choosing suppliers.
However, we remain highly selective in the way we choose our manufacturers. For example, we send all prospective suppliers a questionnaire to gauge their social and environmental commitments before buying with them. We only work with suppliers that understand and share our core values of social and environmental sustainability. The majority of our Chinese suppliers are BSCI compliant, which ensures they are free from issues such as child or forced labour, health and safety risks and unethical practices. The BSCI audit includes 13 performance areas overall, including protection of the environment. For the few suppliers that aren’t, we are encouraging them to do so and aim to have 100% of our suppliers BSCI compliant by the end of 2023.
We are excited to announce that we are also currently working towards B Corp status. B Corps use the power of business to do more than seek profit. They use their profits and growth to positively impact their stakeholders — and the planet. Achieving B Corp is a marathon not a sprint but we're determined to get there, with our target being of 2024.
Our Carbon Footprint
As a small start-up, our carbon footprint is still small, with the majority of our emissions stemming from our supply chain.
To keep our emissions down, we always ship our products via sea freight rather than air.
We have also joined the Race to Zero campaign and have committed to go carbon neutral by 2040 - 10 years ahead of the EU’s deadline! This means that we will be measuring and reporting our carbon emissions year on year and working across our supply chain to reduce emissions in line with this target. Instead of simply carbon offsetting, we are actively working to reduce our emissions at source, as this is the only hope we have of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees.
We also appreciate the need to go beyond carbon neutrality and towards restoration and re-wilding of the natural world. So we are hugely excited to partner organisations who are working to restore wild ecosystems and support biodiversity such as Mossy Earth.