The five values driving eco-friendly pet bedding
17 January 2023 at 11:45 am
A Melbourne-based pet bedding company challenges throwaway culture in pet care.
Consumers are increasingly making the switch to products that are better for the environment and now, pets can be eco-warriors too.
Snooza, a Melbourne-based pet care company, has been focused on environmentally sustainable practices since before it was cool, as the saying goes, with a range of pet beds that are sustainability made and maintained.
Snooza began more than 30 years ago in Melbourne’s bayside suburbs, with a raised dog bed made of a hand-stitched compostable jute cover and a hand-moulded steel frame.
Over the years the product line has evolved to include things like a doggy futon, with an organic cotton cover and filled with Australian wool — and every piece still has sustainability at heart.
Being made in Australia and using high quality local materials were priorities from the start, explained Snooza’s marketing manager, Brigitte Knight.
For Snooza, those qualities tie in with sustainability: using durable, local materials mean the products will last longer and are “anti-landfill”.
Then there’s the philosophy behind all the pet beds, known within Snooza as the five Rs: replace, refill, refresh, repair and rehome.
All five have been part of the business model since the company’s founding, and Knight said customers appreciate the values.
“Consumers want to hold on to something for longer. They want to keep their conscience clear about landfill,” she said.
Cheaply-made pet beds fall apart, often within months, and are usually not repaired, she added.
That’s a mindset that Snooza doesn’t support, and one it actively seeks to challenge with its products.
The values began with the original owners of Snooza and were carried over when the company came into new ownership a few years ago.
“It’s nice that because the owners believe in this, it carries through to everybody else and everyone puts in the effort because it comes from the top.”
Five Rs
The fibre fill in Snooza’s products is made of a mixture of recycled plastic and Australian foam crumb. The foam crumb is a zero-waste crumb as it’s made from off-cuts of foam that’s used for other Snooza products.
The products are washable, in keeping with Snooza’s value of ‘refresh’, meaning customers can easily clean the beds when they need it.
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Refill refers to the fibre fill. Snooza makes refill packs of fibre for customers to purchase when necessary.
All parts of the bed can be replaced if they wear out, including metal frames and zippers.
“Whatever parts that come with the bed, we sell them separately so you can just replace that part,” Knight said.
“[It’s not hard] to offer all the bits and pieces if people want to keep that product going for longer. [It’s] just doing things the good old-fashioned way.”
Then there’s repair; Snooza offers a free repair scheme for its pet beds.
“If your dog chews up its bed a little bit too much, if it is repairable, we’ll do our best to stitch that back together — or if it’s just old and worn out from wear and tear, we’ll repair that too,” Knight explained.
Finally, there’s rehome.
“If somebody actually has a new dog bed or doesn’t need their bed anymore, they can donate it back to us. We’ll refurbish it… then send it out to a pet shelter or an animal welfare centre, and they’ll either use that in the centre or they send it home with the rescue dogs when they get adopted.
“So that’s a really beautiful ending to the life of the bed,” she said.
An eco-friendly home
Even the building that Snooza is housed in has been deliberately designed with sustainability in mind.
Around 90 per cent of the fitout is upcycled, and a glass wall panel separates the office from the factory in a literal embodiment of transparency and unification.
There are also solar panels on the roof; Knight said the aim is for the business to get to 100 per cent self-sufficiency in its energy production and consumption.
There are discussions underway too about transitioning the company’s delivery fleet to electric vans.
Knight said the business aims to do “anything that we can possibly do” to make itself more sustainable.
“Even the waste from the office and the factory — we’ve got about six different recycle bins… [and] we all separate out the rubbish, which is so refreshing to see. I have never been in a workplace that does it like that.”
Other products keep the eco-friendly ethos going.
One of Snooza’s latest products is plant-based, compostable and biodegradable waste bags. Fifty per cent of the profits are donated to animal assistance charities.
There are some other new products in the pipeline, including cleaning products to help deal with pet accidents.
It is also now certified by Sensitive Choice to indicate that its products are safe for those with asthma and allergies.
Snooza is currently not certified as a B Corp or other similar sustainable company, but Knight said the company is keeping an eye out for “the right certification or incorporation”.
Consumers look for better, as companies pivot
Sustainability is becoming increasingly important for consumers, and Knight believes that’s due to increasing awareness around what sustainability is.
“I think what helps is when big brands and well-known companies get on board and they promote it, and it takes value to do that because it’s not always commercially best to be sustainable,” she mused.
“But when someone puts in enough effort to find a way to find a strategy that works commercially and is best for the planet, I think it’s a win-win situation, and I believe more of us would choose more wisely if we had the options.
“But the options aren’t always there. And so if the option is there, and it’s still affordable, it’s still high quality, it’s still beautiful, it’s still functional, it’s ticking all the boxes — so why wouldn’t you [buy it]?”
