Earth Animal is a purpose-driven pet brand known for its integrative approach to animal health and well-being. With a product portfolio spanning holistic and premium dog foods, treats & chews, and remedies & supplements—all in distinct, complex packaging formats—Earth Animal needed to meet Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations without diverting precious internal resources. rePurpose Global helped streamline the entire process, turning what could’ve taken months into days—while unlocking long-term cost savings and data value.
The Challenge
Pet brands like Earth Animal face steep EPR fees due to their reliance on flexible plastic packaging, large-format shipping materials, and multi-component formats like bundles, sachets, and custom kits. From 30-lb kibble bags to Chewy-exclusive bundles and club-store formats, Earth Animal’s packaging varied by product, channel, and retailer—each with different compliance requirements and data gaps. With only one internal team member managing the process, Earth Animal needed support interpreting the rules, collecting the right packaging data, and avoiding costly overreporting—especially for high-volume, low-recyclability materials.
The Solution
Earth Animal has been a long-standing plastic recovery partner of rePurpose Global, so when they learned about the fast-approaching EPR deadlines, they turned to us for support. With required packaging data spanning so many different teams, a single team member ultimately became responsible for managing compliance. To do this right, they needed expert guidance and didn’t have the time or resources to bring on consultants or expand headcount.
rePurpose Global helped evaluate packaging data across DTC, retail, and wholesale channels—including tricky components like outer cartons, inserts, and tertiary shipping materials. Where supplier data was missing or inconsistent, we applied vetted assumptions to reduce the burden on Earth Animal’s internal team. Our experts clarified which materials were liable under state-specific EPR laws, , how to handle flexible films, and which reporting method would minimize costs. This was especially important because difficult-to-recycle formats like flexible films carry higher EPR fees – so the precision in data categorization and selection of reporting method was key.
As Earth Animal put it: “As a team of one, having this support from rePurpose was essential from a time perspective. In addition, I was able to learn so much about the granular level of the data, and now that I have the information, providing it for other states will not be as difficult or time-consuming.”
Thanks to rePurpose Global, Earth Animal was fully prepared for Oregon’s EPR deadline. With everything centralized, each new report will now take minutes—not months.
66 unique packaging components identified and cataloged
100% Packaging Data Centralized
Results
By simplifying reporting and avoiding unnecessary costs, Earth Animal was able to transform EPR compliance from a burden into a manageable, streamlined process well ahead of the curve. The brand now has the tools and systems in place to scale reporting across upcoming states in minutes, not months. Here are other benefits to Earth Animal:
Money saved: Avoided thousands in potential overpayment by optimizing reporting for high-cost materials like flexible films using vetted assumptions. Savings will grow with each additional EPR state.
Time saved: Enabled a single team member to complete the reporting process independently—saving weeks of manual effort and avoiding ~$40,000- $120,000 a year in consultant fees or the need to expand internal staff.
Penalties avoided: Submitted a complete, audit-ready report on time, eliminating the risk of $25,000/day fines or public non-compliance listings.
Long-term benefit: Built a centralized, scalable system that streamlines compliance across all current and future EPR states—enabling Earth Animal to stay lean while maintaining control over packaging data, reporting, and sustainability performance.
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