Lily's Kitchen receives outstanding ethical company score

Lily’s Kitchen has retained its positon as one of the UK’s top rated ethical pet food companies for the 9th year running by ethical consumer comparison company The Good Shopping Guide, the world’s bestselling ethical shopping reference book and website.

Lily’s Kitchen has been awarded an index score of 100, which highlights the company’s continued commitment to ethical behaviour, responsible corporate governance and employee integrity.

Henrietta Morrison (pictured), CEO and founder of Lily’s Kitchen, comments: “We are once again hugely honoured to be recognized by The Good Shopping Guide as one of the UK’s most Ethical Pet Food brands.

“At Lily’s Kitchen we embrace all that is special in the relationship between pets, people and the planet. Our Mission Statement includes a commitment to environmental stewardship: we are dedicated to providing proper food for pets, with a commitment to tread carefully on the planet and actively engage with our community.

"This accolade is a tremendous achievement and it speaks highly of the work we have always put in to doing the right thing for pets, people and the planet.”

When compiling this year's list, The Good Shopping Guide independently assessed the company’s competency in ethics and compliance; culture of ethics; leadership, innovation and reputation; corporate responsibility and governance, as well as reviewing a new CSR report from Lily’s Kitchen.

Continues Morrison: “‘Our first ever CSR report was a huge undertaking, it acts as a barometer for us so we can check our performance and acknowledge our progress on important environmental and social topics such as responsible sourcing, sustainability, charitable initiative and employee schemes.”

During the ethical audit, the research team at The Good Shopping Guide also commented: “We would like to commend Lily’s Kitchen on their first CSR Report, which shows a clear understanding of the company’s environmental impacts. Over and above standard environmental policies/reports from companies of this size and the inclusion of environmental targets is seen as a positive step.”

Two years ago, Lily’s Kitchen became a founding member of B Corp UK - an organisation begun in the US (Etsy and Patagonia are among the founding members) as a collection of companies united in their desire to use business as a force for good. Lily’s Kitchen is still the only pet food company to be a certified B Corp and is currently in the process of recertifying. It has been ethically minded since day one, and its status as a B Corp UK founder member goes to underline that commitment.

Individually, ‘B Corps’ as they are known, meet the highest standards of performance and are transparent and accountable in their business operations. Member companies are encouraged to use their individual and collective power to help solve social and environmental problems.

Ensuring the business has a positive impact on society and the planet is at the heart of all Lily’s Kitchen does, and with their simple but meaningful mission - dedicated to providing naturally nutritious food for pets, and a pledge to tread carefully on the planet and actively engage with the community - Lily’s Kitchen heads towards its 10th year with a success to match its ambitions:

Lily’s Kitchen recipes only ever contain freshly prepared meat and offal, fruit and vegetables, with no unnecessary additives.
Nearly all of Lily’s Kitchen packaging is recyclable and the dry food bags and treat boxes are compostable too.
Lily’s Kitchen use 100% renewable British energy in both of its office sites
Water or vegetable based inks are used for printing the majority of packaging and brochures, to help minimise environmental impact from waste and toxicity.
Lily’s Kitchen does not produce its food in foil pouches, despite many requests from retailers, as these do not breakdown and generally go straight into landfill. Instead, Lily’s Kitchen uses aluminium trays which can be recycled once the stickers are removed.
Lily’s Kitchen’s carbon footprint is around 40% lower than the industry average.
They give a huge number of nutritious meals to cats and dogs in need, to over 100 animal rescue centers as part of their ongoing Dinner’s On Us Campaign and have donated £5k to the UK’s leading vet charity PDSA who provides free pet care to the pets of people in need. This donation will keep 3 PDSA hospitals running for a day and further financial support is planned for the future
10% of its employees volunteered for the Grenfell Tower relief efforts in July 2017 and the company also donated food for displaced pets.
On International Good Deeds Day, members of the Lily’s team pulled together to spend lunchtimes sewing 50 dog coats for street dogs and donated them to the wonderful Street Dogs Matter charity who then distributed them to homeless dogs around London.
In 2016, their total products sold came with 434.26 tonnes of packaging. Through compliance with UK packaging regulations, they offset this by fees which went directly to UK recycling and environmental programmes and schemes.
100% of Lily’s Kitchen’s significant suppliers (including packaging suppliers) take part in their annual sustainability survey where they gain information on their measurement of energy and water usage, emissions, waste and recycling.