TerraCycle’s Cool, Repurposed Pet Products

In your search to become more eco-conscious, have you been looking for ways to “green” your pets as well? TerraCycle, an organization known for its creative recycling of everyday trash, and national pet retailer PETCO, found a way to combine natural, nontoxic pet care with recycling that might just be up your alley.

The items are the world’s first line of pet products packaged in repurposed plastic bottles. The products use combinations of essential oils, probiotics and earth-friendly microbes to keep Fido smelling fresh and out of your trash can.

Richard Chene, VP and general merchandise manager for PETCO also noted that “we truly believe if it’s good for the planet, it’s good for pets, too.”

Some of the highlights include:

• Natural Stool Destroyer that makes cleaning up after your pet easier than ever.
• Trash Can Protector to keep your pets and other animals from turning your garbage can into a garbage pile.
• Natural Stain and Odor Remover made from naturally occurring microbes strong enough to get rid of stains and odors, but safe enough to spray directly on your pet.
• Natural Dig Stop made from a mixture of essential oils that is harmless, but unpleasant to animal’s sensitive olfactory glands.
• Skunk Odor Remover a probiotic solution that digests the microbiotic matter in skunk spray that causes the foul smell

Terracycle’s repurposed bottles generally come from local recycling centers and landfills. They also host a Bottle Brigade program, which pays 5 cents for every 20-ounce bottle collected. According to Albe Zakes, VP of media relations for Terracycle, “We reuse around a million per year but that number is steadily on the rise and we expect to reuse close to two million in 2009.”