Page 41 - PET worldwide issue 01/2022

According to PLA
figures, over 4.8 mio
tonnes of refuse are
created every year
in Europe alone by
mineral cat litter. This
amount equates to
loading 480 000 bin
lorries.

alone. This equates to loading efficient, because the refuse re- if local authorities create the
480 000 bin lorries,” explains sulting annually for each house- necessary conditions for this,”
Michael Behnke, the PLA rep- hold with cats due to mineral lit- says Behnke. Some local au-
resentative for Germany and ter is calculated to be four times thorities in Germany and France
France. Added to this is the fact as great as for plant-fibre litter. are already implementing these.
that the raw materials of mineral The raw material for the latter Cats For Future now wants uni-
litter – bentonite, clays or sepio- is also transported over shorter form standards and boundary
lite – often come from mines in distances to keep the CO load conditions to be introduced so
2
Africa, Canada or Spain, neces- small. that cat owners across both
sitating transportation and high Behnke recently started to countries can dispose of plant-
CO emissions. As far as he is represent the PLA voluntarily in fibre litter with their organic
2
concerned, silica litter products Germany and France. The Milan- waste. “Plant-fibre litter is in-
produced from sand in China based association, which has dustrially compostable and can
with a high energy outlay are been in existence for nearly ten contribute to methanation and
also anything but sustainable. years, works with well-known sci- the production of biogas,” adds
entists and with the support of re- Behnke.
Mineral litter study nowned NGOs such as Cradle to The actions of the French re-
Behnke knows what he is talk- Cradle, pet product companies tail giant Carrefour has shown
ing about. A marketing expert and communities across Europe him that change is taking place
who has been teaching at the to draw attention to this relatively in the retail landscape. The com-
American University of Paris unknown topic and to engineer a pany decided back in 2018 to
for seven years, he initiated a change in consumption. It has remove its private-label silica
study in 2018 entailing the first launched the Cats For Future ini- litter from the range for environ-
scientific investigation of the en- tiative, aiming to create greater mental protection reasons, re-
vironmental problem posed by awareness in pet product compa- counts Behnke. A year later, the
mineral litter. The results of the nies and also among cat owners supermarket chain even banned
study shocked even Behnke, and of the environmental problems all silica litter products from its
he says, “it is time to reconsider caused by mineral litter. shelves. For him, this move is a
and to replace or prohibit min- consequence also of greater en-
eral litter”. For him, plant-fibre lit- Dialogue with vironmental awareness within
ter products, produced from the policy-makers the population. “A growing num-
secondary raw materials from The PLA is also engaging in a ber of cat lovers have woken up
i
grain processing and the timber ser ous dialogue with policy- to the situation and are turning
processing industry, represent makers. “Plant-fibre litter can be their backs on products with a
a sensible alternative. Behnke disposed of with organic waste poor energy and environmental
believes them to be much more in principle and is not a problem record.” n

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