I love our planet.

I love nature, oceans, deserts, wildlife, insects, really everything about our planet is fascinating and amazing in its own special way. When I started a small business called PoopBags.com I had no idea where it would lead me, or the role it would play in my life. I dream, and plan to make that dream a reality, the role my company will play in the world.

In case you don’t the know the story, I was walking my dog, Miss Cinnamon May (my last name in Italian and I got the greatest the birthday present of my lifetime in May, AKC requires 3 names, so Miss was tagged on to form Miss Cinnamon May) down the street. Like every other dog owner, you’re on the constant hunt for poop bags… double-bagging, grabbing the black liquor bags at parties, my Mom saving them, you know the drill. One day back in 2003, I was doing a search for where to buy poop bags, and was baraged with all the information about how bad plastic was for the environment, and especially when related to plastic bags and pet waste. Basically, in 100, 1,000, 5,000 years, we’re going to have millions or billions of plastic bags filled with perfectly protected pet waste. We have no idea how long these mass-produced plastics will be around, because we’ve only been producing them for less than 60 years.

60 years... Let’s come back to that in a moment. Planet Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old.Humans have been around in some form for 200,000 years, and essentially as we know ourselves today for, give or take, 10,000 years. If you couldn’t guess, I am firm believer that humans are causing Global Warming. It’s really just basic science that while our incredible planet has a natural system to cleanse itself, we are overloading the system and pushing it beyond its capacity to function. But enough on that, and back to that 60 years…

In roughly 60 years time, we have destroyed parts of our planet, and polluted it beyond belief. I’m not going to pull any punches, and state that I think it’s both disgusting and irresponsible. If you did this to your bedroom growing up, I’m sure your mother would have sent you in there to clean it up, or least mine did and I just want to say thanks Mom!                                                                                                                                                                                              

Let me be clear, not all plastics are bad, and I am thankful for plastic in some forms. It’s an amazing material, and it gave my family almost 25 more years with my Dad than we could of had if it weren’t for its marvels related to open heart surgeries. Single-use plastics are horrible. Horribly convenient, horribly cheap, and horrible for our planet. They’ve been so woven into our day to day life, it’s virtually impossible to shop without encountering them. I TRIED! Seriously, I read an article urging folks to try and go shopping and not buy anything with plastic in it. I walked the isles at Target and Publix, and everything from food, gum, laundry detergent, etc. has plastic on it. I picked out a bottle of Worcestershire sauce wrapped in paper for my bloody mary’s, got home, tore off the paper, and it was wrapped in plastic underneath!!! DAMN IT!

So, where are we? We have trash piles on land, countries refusing to take our trash and plastic waste, islands of trash the size of Texas floating in our oceans, melting polar caps, polluted waterways, diminishing forests, and more. It’s pretty sad, but I also truly believe it’s not too late. I have a bit of a reputation for positive, the glass is half-full thinking...

We can make a difference. It doesn't matter if you’re the CEO of Marriott, Disney, McDonalds, Starbucks, or Trader Joe’s that are all moving towards reducing plastics. It doesn’t matter if you’re the city director for a parks and rec, a HOA, or you manage the local dog park. It doesn't matter if you own a pet, or you don’t. TOGETHER, we can make a difference.

If you’re in a position of influence such as the purchasing agent for a company or organization, do your homework, and drive positive change. Do you buy pet waste bags for your company? How many per year? How many years do you guess you’ll be around? Multiply those numbers for an estimate of how much of a difference you can make for Earth.

If you’re “just an individual” start making changes to your daily habits, calling your politicians, parks and recreation directors, pet store and retail owners, etc. Ever hear the story about the boy who threw a starfish back into the ocean? YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

So how does all this tie back to me? Well, I’m in a hybrid position, I guess I’ve come to find myself as a person who is in a bit of an influential position, assuming there is support for my company and its products, and I’m certainly an individual that cares deeply about our planet.

Since the beginning of my company, we’ve always rallied around the slogan, Saving the Earth since 2003. We’ve won more Innovations Awards from Pet Business Magazine for our eco-friendly technologies and products than any other company in this space. We're all very proud of that.

This month, The Original Poop Bags® launched our You Buy; We Donate® certified compostable pet waste bags. These bags are made from plants, and are the most-sustainable bags we have available. We’ve also upgraded our oxo-biodegradable, recycled poop bags to USDA Certified Biobased, available exclusively in retail. When you buy from our company, you support eco-friendly initiatives, and a company that gives back to our planet.

So,...

I, Paul D. Cannella, pledge to be a steward of planet Earth, do my best on a daily basis to make conscious choices in my daily habits, purchases, and support of companies that produce products that align to my values, and love of our planet.

I, Paul D. Cannella, owner of The Original Poop Bags® and semi-person of influence, pledge to produce products that help protect our planet, and will push to evolve our products as new technologies emerge to make them more sustainable.

Now it’s your turn….

I, _________________, individual, purchasing agent, CEO, person of influence, I pledge to make a difference, ask hard questions of my community leaders, the companies I purchase products from, make changes to my purchasing habits, pick up that piece of garbage on my walk, and make a difference that I will be proud of when I look back on the gift I was given to live on this planet.

NO MATTER HOW YOU PURCHASE (Consumer, Wholesale or Commercial) a portion of your sale through April will be donated to The Arbor Day Foundation via our You Buy; We Donate® program to plant more trees to cleanse out planet.

With you,

- PC

Paul D. Cannella

President and Founder

The Original Poop Bags®

www.poopbags.com