Sustainable Snacking, Canine-Approved: DoggyLove Chooses Paper Over Plastic

Paper has infiltrated the pet-food aisle, with Germany pet-snack startup DoggyLove partnering with Sonoco Europe to bring its organic, plant-based pet treats to market in the GreenCan paper-based package. Originally founded in 1956 as a butcher’s shop, and then later a catering business, this family-run firm recently decided to take things in a totally different direction, re-inventing itself as a pet food manufacturer. Following extensive consultations with veterinarians throughout 2023, the company then sought a packaging partner to help bring its pet treats to market.

“Our new business is personal to us, inspired by our own dog, a labrador called Peggy, who was part of our lives for 15 years,” says Christoph Wirth, who owns and runs the business with his wife, Konstanze. “Peggy was the inspiration for DoggyLove, and our core mission now is to develop healthy snacks to promote the health and well-being of all dogs.”

Read about another strategy for more sustainable pet food packaging in this article, “Mars Petcare Retort Pouches use Certified Circular PP”

“We thought long and hard about what the right packaging was to present this product to market,” Wirth continues. “To reflect the values of our brand, it was very important to us that it was both high quality and sustainable. Initially we wanted to use different packaging types from Asia for our products, but we quickly realized that it would entail the long delivery times and an increase in global political uncertainty for us. This has led us to decide in favour of a locally manufactured solution, which was also a perfect match with our values—Greencan, the paper-based can from Sonoco.”

The GreenCan paperboard package is made from 92 to 98% paperboard and can be produced with optional barrier coatings that provide protection against moisture, oxygen, and other external factors, “without compromising the recyclability of the paper-based design,” says Sonoco. The package is available in multiple shapes and sizes—from round, square, or rectangular, to oval, oblong or triangular—and is designed to be recycled. It’s integrated paper lid is also designed for recycling, so when the can is empty, the whole package can go through the household paper recycling stream without any need to disassemble it.

“GreenCan was unlike anything we saw from any other packaging provider, and it appealed to us on multiple levels because of the short delivery times, and because of its sustainability credentials, which are not only ethically important to us, but are also very important to our customers, giving us another angle to talk about in our marketing. Finally, the creative possibilities of being able to employ full-surface printing on the packaging, was also really appealing.”

“As a new brand, the way in which we’re perceived is important to us, and Sonoco’s GreenCan solution helps to reinforce our holistic brand image of responsible and sustainable production. We see this as just the beginning of our partnership, and we’re already planning other potential products that would also be a perfect fit with this packaging.”

Mars also made a move to paper. Learn more in this article, “New Packaging from Mars Petcare UK Cuts Plastic by 15M Pieces”

DoggyLove’s customers have also been impressed with the packaging – with early customer feedback describing it as “high quality.”  PW