Survey results: How sustainability-conscious are pet parents?

More than half of the respondents to the Yummypets survey (52.2%) admit that they ‘sometimes’ look up how sustainable a company is before buying products. Interestingly, no less than 62.2% of French pet owners do so, followed by Canadians (51.7%) and Belgians (50.2%).

On the other hand, 4 out of 10 American pet owners don’t do any prior research of the brand, with British owners coming in second place with 34.5%.

Paying for sustainability?

As to the importance of whether a product is manufactured by a sustainable company: nearly 22% of all respondents agreed this is very important, while 30.6% believe it is ‘fairly’ important, but not decisive. For 5.7% of respondents, this aspect is not important at all.

More companies within the industry aim to become carbon neutral. Yet only a minority of pet owners are willing to pay more for sustainably produced products. 37.8% of French pet parents and 35.4% of British would be willing to pay more, compared to only 24% of Americans.

Owners are also sensitive to environmentally friendly packaging. British (37.8%) and French (37.3%) are the most eager to pay more for products presented in paper or recyclable packaging, followed by Americans (34.9%) and Belgians (33.2%). At the same time, 5.7% of all respondents would not pay more for sustainable packaging.

Organic and sustainable labels

Half of the respondents admit looking out for organic labels – such as USDA Organic, B Corp or Ecocert – when purchasing pet food. A significant 63.6% of pet owners buy organic food for themselves.

Belgians (57.7%) and French (57.1%) are leading where organic is concerned. Whereas nearly 4 out of 10 British say they are not interested in organic alternatives.

The survey concludes that no less than 41.7% of pet owners are skeptical about sustainability claims made by pet food companies (29.6% believe such claims). French (48.5%) and American (43.3%) pet owners are the most skeptical.

Interestingly, 28% of pet owners consider it important that companies within the industry actively support animal shelters or adoption programs.

Nutrients as a core solution for sustainability

When asked about alternative and sustainable protein sources in pet food, owners consider eggs (22.1%) and plant-derived proteins (21.5%) as key drivers.

The concept of insects as a source of protein is increasingly popular in some markets. Although uptake amongst pet owners still seems low: 13.7% of them do not consider insects to be a sustainable alternative. US and Canadian owners are the most skeptical towards insects, while Belgians and Brits are the strongest believers.

Only 12.8% of respondents say they have purchased insect-containing pet food. Of those who haven’t yet purchased it, 48.7% are open to doing so, while 38.6% are against.

Buying local is preferred

Locally sourced ingredients are also seen as a core issue: 3 out of 10 pet parents would certainly buy this kind of product. While most Belgians (66%) see locally sourced as a priority in their purchasing choice.

As for buying locally, more than half (57.1%) of respondents buy locally sometimes, whereas 31.3% always buy locally. British (39.6%) are the ones that are more committed to local stores, followed by Americans (35.3%), Canadians (34.8%), French (25.7%) and Belgians (19.4%).

When it comes to paying more for pet products with ingredients that are sourced locally, the majority (63.3%) are open to or in favor of this idea. In general, consumers from France and Belgium are most willing to dig a little deeper into their wallets, while Canadians are much less likely to do so.