Our Ethics and Sustainability
Ever since our inception in 1980 where our founder believed plant-based dog food was the ethical choice for the future, we have strived to provide the most ethical choice for pet parents around the World.
V-dog is vegan owned and run and our values align well with our customers values and beliefs. We're authentic and independent, unlike those cashing in on a trend, where your money goes to fund other less ethical products.
We believe wherever possible and practical we should make the most ethical choice available to us.
We do this with our vegan dog foods and the ingredients we select, but we also do this everyday in our business. Whether it's our energy supplier or the toilet paper, every choice has an impact and below we share some of our choices with you.
Our warehouse and HQ are entirely powered by Ecotricity. So everything from our computers to our forklift is powered by the sun or wind.
Even our hosting provider is powered by Ecotricity.
We work with local contractors to ensure our waste is separated in recyclable and non recyclable items.
The items not currently recycled are used for energy recovery with the fumes being filtered so that only water vapour is released into the air.
We aim never to send anything to landfill.
Our foods have been produced in the UK for over 40 years and where possible we source those ingredients from UK suppliers.
We do not use air freight to transport goods when there is a more eco-friendly alternative such as road or sea frieght.
As a company, we do not buy any animal products or conduct any animal testing.
We have no links to animal farms or slaughter houses.
We do not work with anyone that breaches our anti-bribery and corruption polices.
We are aware of the global need to find alternatives to fossil based plastics and for manufacturers to recognise their responsibility to help shape this technology for a better future.
Dog food, like any food, requires a certain degree of protection from the elements. Packaging suitable for the UK for example, is very different to the packaging needed to help the food survive a journey by sea and road for a life in South Africa.
We are always exploring new alternatives and once these concepts have been tested and are viable we will aim to move to them.
Biodegradable, compostable and recyclable bags are still relatively new at the time of publishing this (2021).
As vegans ourselves, we decided to keep our premises meat-free as a promise to our customers.
We buy a brand of toilet paper that takes their profits and builds toilets in parts of the World where sanitation can mean the difference between life and death. Learn more about the project here.