We’re very excited about recent developments at our shops that make us even more environmentally focused and less energy dependent and increases our sustainability practices. We’re St Louis’ and Edwardsville’s most environmentally friendly pet store! 

Our mission at Four Muddy Paws is and always will be focused on improving the health and well being of our dog and cat companions. This includes their emotional and physical well being whether it’s finding the right natural diet or finding the right durable toy that will engage your pet. We have stringent guidelines for every product we bring in the shops and there are some products and categories we don’t bring in because they just don’t meet our standards. 

Another core part of our mission is to be good stewards of the earth and we strive to be able to reduce our waste, recycle and reuse as much as we can. It’s all about sustainability and it’s a critical part of our DNA and we’re always looking at ways we can make a difference. 

We recognize that we’re an energy-intensive business and that’s why we’ve always offset our Carbon Emissions with Ameren Pure Power purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECS) from local renewable energy sources that are added to the Midwest energy pool showing our commitment to renewable energy.PurePowerLogo
 

We’ve been dreaming about solar energy for over thirty years and we’re so excited to announce that we’ve just added solar to our roof at our Lafayette Square shop! 

Screen Shot 2014-01-28 at 4.38.14 PMThe addition of solar energy to Four Muddy Paws has added yet another new energy source in the City of St Louis and Missouri. 

Here’s a list of our energy metrics and some environmental equivalencies. 

Annual energy produced: 11,169 kWh 

Lifetime energy produced: 263,093 kWh  

That’s the equivalent of powering 35 personal computers, 264 CFL light bulbs or 21 barrels of oil every year!Screen Shot 2014-01-28 at 4.38.40 PM 

Co2 Emissions Avoided – Year 1: 19,836 lbs. 

Co2 Emissions Avoided – Lifetime: 458,432 lbs. 

That’s like NOT driving 408,000 miles or planting 30 acres of trees – every year! 

A Brighter Today and Tomorrow! 

You might have noticed that in the Fall of 2013 our shops got a little brighter (and cooler!) That’s because we invested in new LED lighting for each of our shops. We replaced all of our old halogen lighting with new brighter and much more efficient LED lighting. It’s had the added impact of also burning much cooler so that will lower our AC costs in the summer too as well as being longer lasting thus reducing our replacement costs. 

We replaced 88 fixtures in our Lafayette Square shop reducing our wattage buy over 3400 watts and we switched out 45 lights in Edwardsville reducing our energy used by 1760 watts. That’s a total watt reduction of 5160 watts! Plus it will reduce our electric bill by almost $2500 on an annual basis for the two shops combined without counting the bulb replacement costs we had each year. 

Each of the LED bulbs is rated at 50,000 hours. If you used this bulb in your home it would last over 45 years (in theory) and if you used it three hours per day it would only cost $1.68 per year to power! Each bulb is the equivalent of 42 incandescent bulbs or five CFL’s. This project offsets about 6 tons of Co2 generated by fossil fuels , equal to taking more than one car off the road or almost five acres of reforested trees every year! 

We partnered with Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois on their Act on Energy program that helped offset a portion of our costs which will be recouped in under one year. 

Basic RGBEach Little Step Can Help Make A Difference! 

While these are two very significant steps we’ve taken this year, we also take other important steps focused on our environment. 

We’ve purchased, recycled and reused a 100+ year-old building (Lafayette Square) and completely renovated the space to be modern and energy efficient while keeping the historic nature of the building intact. We’ve used many reclaimed and recycled materials in shops and we’ll continue to re-purpose more fixtures and materials in the future. We also have installed energy efficient systems including our hot water heaters and HVAC systems. 

We donate kibble and canned diets to local food banks and rescues every month in an effort of help these groups. 

Customers are encouraged to drop off either new or gentle worn pet gear and supplies to be donated to various rescue groups throughout the year. 

If we ask you if you’d like a copy of your receipt, it’s just our way of saving paper! We always keep a record of your sale so no sales receipt is ever needed when you’re either returning or exchanging an item. 

We don’t do any mass marketing mailings as we prefer to communicate with our customers via our monthly newsletter or via social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) 

A large part of our marketing budget goes to support local pet related charities and fundraisers. Making a difference is also a big part of our DNA. 

Each time a customer brings in their own bag they’re eligible for a monthly drawing for a $10 gift certificate. Plus our shop bags are made of 100% post-consume recycled content. 

We have strict standards for every product we bring in the shop and sustainability including manufacturing processes, giving back and durability of the products are definitely a portion of the criteria we use. 

We use only green products in our shop and we recycle all of our packing material and as much weekly waste as we can.