ST. LOUIS – Purina has gotten creative in its sustainability efforts. You and your pup can turn steps into renewable electricity.
Pet Power is a new addition to the Purina experience this weekend in Forest Park as it features a renewable electricity producing walkway that serves as a small symbol of Purina’s commitment to sustainability.
“Renewable electricity is really important to Purina and our sustainability work today, 95% of our facilities power comes from investments in solar and wind, and we’re on track to reach a hundred percent by the end of 2025,” said Tiffany Gildehaus, Senior Manager of Environmental Sustainability at Purina.
Purina’s goal with the Pet Power platform is to highlight the awareness of and demonstrate small ways that people and pets can get involved in learning about renewable electricity. Every step on the platform counts.
“When you apply pressure to the platform that generates a small amount of electricity and that electricity is being collected in 12-volt batteries, and those batteries are going to be donated to the APA for use at upcoming events,” said Gildehaus.
It’s a small way to demonstrate that actions from companies like Purina as well as people and their pets can have a role to play in sustainability.
“We’ve had pet power traveling around St. Louis at a variety of pet friendly venues and events since July. And we’ve got about 25,000 steps on the platform. And it is a small way for us to demonstrate just the power that renewable electricity can have,” she said.
While Purina is using this platform as a symbol of their efforts for now, the technology behind it has bigger implications in sustainability goals in the future.
“This is actually a novel use of this technology to bring people and pets together in this way. But [smart-flooring company] Pavegen has used these tiles all over the world to generate energy like under soccer fields, in parks, and airports. So you can really see the potential that something small like this has use in a bigger scale,” said Gildehaus.
