Sustainable Pet Products Make Grooming More Eco-Friendly

Pet owners are becoming more conscious of the impacts their furry friends and their related products are having on the environment. As sustainability is becoming an increasing priority, more companies are responding with items that are more eco-friendly.

An estimated 300 million pounds of plastic waste results from pet food and treat packaging each year in the U.S., according to the Pet Sustainability Coalition (PSC), a nonprofit that shares tools and resources to encourage sustainability in the industry. Many of those packages are made from unrecyclable or difficult-to-recycle materials. PSC estimates that at least 99% of all pet food packaging in the U.S. is thrown away and not recycled.

Add the plastic packaging from toys, grooming products, and other pet supplies and that’s a lot of pet gear heading to the landfill.

Grove Collaborative, a curated e-commerce marketplace that offers more than 150 sustainable and high-performing brands, has recently launched a line of sustainable grooming products with the creation of the Good Fur brand. They fit the company’s standards: “uncompromisingly healthy, beautifully effective, ethically produced, and cruelty-free.”

The line consists of six products: a gentle shampoo and conditioner, a flea shampoo and flea spray, a puppy shampoo, and a silicone scrub brush.

The impetus behind the brand’s creation was a combination of love of pets and love of the planet.

“At Grove Collaborative, we love our pets! Over 80% of Grove customers own at least one pet, and we wanted to provide our customers with a pet care offering that is good for their pets while being highly efficacious and planet-friendly,” Luana Bumachar, vice president of owned brands and innovation at Grove Collaborative, tells Treehugger.

“Pet ownership is consistently rising year over year and pet owners are putting more emphasis on natural ingredients and sustainability than ever before. Those two factors combined presented a consumer need that Grove Collaborative is uniquely positioned to meet, and it also offered a large business opportunity from a market growth perspective.” 

Sustainability and Clean Ingredients

The products are packaged in recyclable aluminum bottles with reusable pumps and contain no single-use plastics. 

“With Good Fur, we have created an infinitely recyclable, aluminum-based packaging system with durable, reusable pumps to eliminate plastic waste,” Bumachar says. “Every product also includes How2Recycle instructions so it's easy to understand how to properly recycle and eliminate packaging waste.”

The grooming products are cruelty-free, use organic ingredients, and contain no harsh chemicals or insecticides. Formulas are made with natural fragrances and essential oils including cinnamon, peppermint, and cedarwood that are natural and safe for pet use.

Shampoos and conditioners retail for $14.95. Treehugger dogs tested the Good Fur Soothing Shampoo and Soothing Conditioner applied with the silicone brush. They lathered and rinsed well, had mild, natural fragrances, and left coats shiny and soft.

“Our customers are looking for products with clean ingredients that are planet-friendly, safe for their pets, and also work as well, if not better, than conventional products. They know that plastic waste doesn’t just come from our human products, but the products we use to take care of our pets, too,” Bumachar says.

“When it comes to their pets, our customers expect the products they use for their pets to be held up to the same standards as human products. From their feedback, it became really clear that there was a large need for sustainably packaged, clean grooming products that perform well and are made with human-grade ingredient standards.”