Pet-friendly. Planet-friendly.
We’re proud of Hug and our delicious, ethical pet food. We want to see the world flourish for future generations, so we created an eco-friendly company that contributes to this vision.
Being a member of Ecologi helps the bigger picture, but we’re not about merely ticking boxes. We believe in really doing our bit – no half-baked promises here.
Plastic use
We’ve all seen the heartbreaking images, either first hand or on TV: plastic filling our oceans, killing wild birds and animals, littering cities, towns, and countryside worldwide.
At Hug, we made it a priority to reduce the amount of plastic we use and originally set out to remove it entirely from our eco-friendly company. However, in some instances, there just isn’t a non-plastic product that is fit for our purpose. In these cases, we’ve sourced a recyclable or returnable plastic product to ensure we’re not adding to the plastic waste mountain.
Eco-conscious packaging
Looking after our planet as well as our pets means packaging our products with environmental protection in mind. It also means proactively seeking even better, greener options as new developments are made.
You will never see that vague phrase, ‘recycle ready,’ on our ethical pet food packaging. Recycling instructions accompany all Hug products – everything from our shipping boxes and paper insulation to our frozen food containers and cold pressed boxes. You can find instructions on recycling our packaging in the Environment section of our FAQ page.
All of our lovely shipping boxes and insulation are made from 100% recyclable cardboard, our handles are easily recyclable, and our ice packs are returnable – these used to be compostable, however they started to breakdown while still in use, so withdrawn by the manufacturer in order to address the issue. So while we await, use the water from the ice pack to water your plants and either recycle the plastic locally or return to us with your lids. The film lids on our raw food pots are returnable – we’ll recycle them for you and cover the cost.
Tree planting
For every new customer who purchases our ethical pet food, we plant a tree through Ecologi. In the first four months of trading, we planted over 1000 trees and offset 67.49 tonnes of CO2 emissions. That feels pretty amazing, and we’re not going to stop.
132.29T of carbon reduction
2407 trees planted in our forest
Carbon footprint
Some suggest you can’t be in the meat industry and still claim to care about the environment – or be an eco-friendly company. It’s not as simple as that. At Hug, we believe in sourcing our ingredients from farmers and growers who take a truly green approach to the management of their herd or crops. Like us, they’re committed to high welfare standards and sustainable practices.
British farming, with its extensive, grass-based grazing systems, produces some of the most sustainable beef in the world – a great match for our ethical pet food. According to the government’s Committee on Climate Change, greenhouse gas emissions from UK beef are about half the global average **.
**Landuse: policiesforanetzeroUK, Committee on Climate Change, January 2020
We are thrilled to link up with select Norwegian suppliers for our salmon products and specialist ingredients included in our cold pressed recipes. Their focus on welfare and quality make them a natural choice for Hug.
Our krill comes from the only fishery to be awarded an ‘A’ ranking from the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership.
We’re also advocates of the ‘everything in moderation’ ethos, which is why we’re proud to have created the only vegetarian cold pressed dog food on the market. We’re making meat-free Mondays work for our canines, too!
Hug HQ
We’re delighted to have our premises and shop in the market town of Devizes, a great place to visit in the heart of Wiltshire – especially if you like beer and canals. We can boast the 29 locks of the Caen Hill flight on the Kennet & Avon canal, and some pretty incredible dog walks. We’re lucky to be surrounded by many of our suppliers too, which helps to minimise our environmental impact.
We always love to see our customers and fellow pet parents, so, next time you’re in Wiltshire, stop by for a chat!