Green pet toys and treats at Woofles and Meowz.

Lately I have been asked the question "is this product made locally?" or "is this organic?".
I have seen, heard and felt the change in the market with regard to people wanting sustainable products.
Being a manufacturer of products as well as an owner of a pet boutique I have made it my special interest to buy from local producers, small companies that use organic ingredients, buy organic ingredients to make our famous treats and employ local producers as best as possible.
Right now Woofles and Meows is a store that carries at least 50% locally or Canadian content...which.........is REALLY hard to do let me tell you.
Now, do not get me wrong. I am no tree hugging fanatic bent on wearing rough woven clothes and never touching anything plastic.....I just believe that we can do as much as we can faced with the choice to do so if it is available. That is the tipping point for me.....if I have the choice between a regular bag or a biodegradeable one even if it is twice the cost (for now) I will go for the "green" option. I think my customers really appreciate that fact.
I KNOW that the organic nature of our biscuits is very much a selling point for many folks here so it makes sense that other avenues are safe to follow.
I have been diligent though in fact finding in what is actually green. Everybody is jumping on the bandwagon to get that dollar out of your pocket and into their till and being "ECO friendly" seems to be the way to go and makes for brilliant marketing. This is unfortunatley where people simply see that something is sustainable and go with the flow without finding the 5Ws of it.
My recent experiences go like this:
Yes that recycled paper from London Drugs is good...but it comes from Brazil so it took resources and oil to get it all the way here....so not good in the long run.
That pretty Japanese pastry is organic but it is wrapped in a plastic container with a plastic label then put into a paper then a bag......soooo not good in the long run.
My oven cleaner is supposedly CFC free! and that should make us want and need it right? well CFC were banned decades ago and so it is a moot point...though we all feel better regardless huh!
Lets not get all crazy on ourselves and jump on the martyr train but I am gonna do MY part by reducing packaging when I can here in the store and buy locally as much as possible and make good things with good ingredients.
There is also a great website you can check out .. www.ethiquette.ca They seem to have some good info...and thats a start right?!??
cheers,
MEOW!!!!