Sustainability is a lot more than a buzz word—it should be a way of life, and PetCubes and Life Sprouts understood the assignment when they jointly organised the inaugural Green Pet Fair. Held on 14 and 15 October at Life Sprouts @ Punggol Container Park, Singapore’s first Green Pet Fair aimed to raise awareness about the environmental impact of pet ownership and teach pet owners to raise their pets in more socially responsible ways.
Representing Wake Up SG, I arrived at Life Sprouts last Saturday afternoon with my dog in tow. Immediately, we were ushered into a food tasting with Dr. Francis Cabana, PetCubes’s Director of Nutrition, which included doggy ice cream in strawberry, blueberry and pandan flavors (my dog went nuts over the blueberry) and an introduction to PetCubes’s new sustainable formula: dog food made of soldier flies and tofu.
Before you make a judgment about the formula, hear PetCubes out: not only have they made a commitment to using local produce and utilizing “ugly foods” that often go to waste because they aren’t aesthetically pleasing (despite being perfectly fine in every other regard), but they’ve also found an alternative protein source that produces 6.4 times fewer greenhouse gases than dog food made with beef.
“At PetCubes, we believe that every small step counts towards building a better future for our planet and our pets,” Cabana says. “We are thrilled to introduce our new Sustainable Formula for Dogs, a product that represents our commitment to environmental sustainability and responsible pet nutrition.”
Cabana was a friendly and knowledgeable presence at the fair—he answered my questions about my dog’s food options thoughtfully and made sure I got food that best suited my dog’s needs. He also acknowledged that while sustainability is the goal, what really matters in the end is if pets are enjoying their food.
PetCubes’s dedication to social responsibility is impressive. In addition to their new formula, they’ve started making their own beeswax wraps as a cling wrap alternative for storing opened pet food. Beeswax wraps are a product I began raving about to friends and family a few months ago. They’re reusable, only need rinsing and patting dry between uses, and can be used repeatedly for up to a year.
With that said, you might be wondering about the trays PetCubes’s food come in, since they’re disposable. At the fair, PetCubes offered consumers a rebate on their pet food if they dropped off empty PetCubes trays for recycling. By the end of the two-day fair, 682 trays had been collected.
The Green Pet Fair showcased a wide variety of vendors selling locally made products. From pet anxiety-soothing lick mats from Wild Tails Club, to pet wipes and cleansers from Beast Buddy, to two-in-one human and pet water bottles from No Chill Dog Mom, there were so many incredible offerings. Despite DBS’s PayNow being down that afternoon, I still managed to spend way more money than I intended. A full list of vendors, all worth checking out, can be found in PetCubes’s Instagram posts leading up to the event.
Aside from shopping and educational talks, the Green Pet Fair also hosted workshops, such as making a cat tent out of recycled materials with The Cat People:
an upcycled terrarium with Werms Inc,
pack walks to the Lor Halus Red Bridge led by Noble Canine‘s Fraser Noble, and doggy yoga with Freedom Yoga.
My dog and I took part in about twenty minutes of yoga under the sun before we had to call it quits; we spent the rest of our time at the fair perusing the items on sale under the shade of a large tent.
The inaugural Green Pet Fair, taking place just a few weeks after Singapore’s Climate Rally, was an encouraging step towards Earth-friendly living in our small nation. My dog is now a PetCubes convert (although she prefers their senior kangaroo food to the soldier flies), and I’m very much looking forward to what’s next in PetCubes’s commitment to sustainability.
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