PISC Launches New Program to Improve Sustainability

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The Pet Industry Sustainability Coalition has grown to a 95 company members working together to catalyze major transformation in the industry by bringing proven partners, tools and enthusiasm to their steadily growing membership.

To help provide members with an easy to follow roadmap to create and execute attainable sustainability strategies and practices, PISC recently launched a collaborative four-step program called “The Accelerator.”

Over the next 6 months, each company can use The Accelerator to not only identify but also help them implement key areas of improvement in sustainability and then report on their progress at Global Pet Expo 2015.

The Accelerator participants will take the PISC Quick Assessment developed by B Lab and released August 1, 2014. This 1-hour confidential assessment helps companies evaluate performance in three key sustainability areas: environment, community and employees. After completing the assessment, each company receives a report card with comparative results from the 17,000 other companies who have answered these same questions and then builds a plan for improvement with PISC and partner Natural Capitalism Solutions

Spencer Williams, president of West Paw Design, a founding member of PISC and the PISC’s keynote speaker at their recent Launch Event, scored just two points below global brand Patagonia in the environmental portion of the B Impact Assessment.

“This is a partnership that connects two organizations with similar core values and leverages their potential to provide a critically needed tool for PISC members,” he said. “Here at WestPaw, the B Lab assessment has been a catalyst for employee lead improvements, building pride, and furthering innovation.

The Accelarator program has attracted new members to the PISC, including Healthy Pet, Life is Good, Coastal Pet Products, Copper River Seafoods, R2Pet, Kinn, Doggles, Prairie Dog Pet Products and Caru.

“Healthy Pet is excited and honored to join PISC and The Accelerator Program,” said Ted Mischainov, CEO of Healthy Pet. “We believe in sustainability without compromise and find PISC to be a key opportunity for sharing key achievements from our long-standing sustainable business practices. Building off of our current successes will require more strategic planning and an integrated communications plan for delivering exceptional results, a process that we believe PISC and their partners can facilitate and help us achieve.”