By Lucie Battaglia, Chief Content Creator for VGRRR
If you’re following VGRRR on social media and reading our blog, congrats! You’re probably already on board with plant-based pet nutrition, which is the best thing you could do to feed your pet in an eco-friendly manner. Did you know that the animal agriculture industry is more polluting than all transportation combined? (1) For those of you who want to take further steps to respect the planet while caring for your animal companion, here are five simple tips.
- Ditch the cheap plastic pet toys. Aside from lasting only a few days before your kitty or doggy destroys them, the plastic and dyes they’re made of are actually toxic for animals. You could replace these toys with durable hemp alternatives, or make your own toys with repurposed fabric or rope, as shown here.
- Make your own moist cat or dog food, following VGRRR’s recipes. The Nutri Yeast supplement is very important, as plant ingredients alone are not sufficient for adequate pet nutrition. As a bonus, by alternating these recipes and VGRRR kibble, you’ll be able to save some cash!
- We can’t talk about reducing waste without mentioning poop, of course. When walking your dog, take along some compostable bags. You can then compost it with the right equipment and use the fertilizer on decorative plants (not edible ones!), bury it if you live in a rural areas, or take it to a composting facility that accepts pet waste. Things are a little easier with a cat: you just have to switch to a compostable wood litter! Simply scoop and flush the poop, and compost the wood once it turns into fine powder. VGRRR can take back the jute litter bags once you use up all the litter inside.
- If you have a bird or rodent, use shredded recycled paper to line the bottom of the cage. Why buy new materials when you can get bedding straight from your recycling bin?
- Take inspiration from bulk food stores and buy your pet food in large bags, instead of smaller quantities, which ends up producing more plastic waste. You’ll also save time this way! VGRRR offers eight-pound bags of its proprietary brand dog and cat kibble if you wish to stock up in large quantities.
We hope these tips will be helpful in your zero-waste journey! What other steps are you taking to reduce your impact on the Earth, both pet-related and otherwise?