Together We Can Friskies and Fancy Feast joined forces with Keep America Beautiful in 2010 to educate cat owners about the recyclability of cat food cans—and increase the total number of cans recycled each year—by creating the “Together We Can” campaign. A Purina survey reported little over half of cat owners recycle their aluminum cat food cans all the time, despite the fact they are recyclable. In fact, more cat owners recycle newspapers, soda cans, canned food items and direct mail than do their cat food cans. The campaign brought together 100 artists who created original pieces of art out of parts and components of cat food cans, diverting the cans from the landfill by giving them a new use. Cat lovers nationwide were invited to turn trash into treasures by creating their own “cat can art” out of Friskies and Fancy Feast cans. Up to 100 pieces of art were put on display at The RePURRposed Gallery Event in New York. Following the gallery showing, select pieces of work were made available for purchase on an eBay auction site. All proceeds from purchased artwork were donated to Keep America Beautiful.
Below: Decorator Kahi Lee at the RePURRposed Gallery event in New York City, which showed off the work of 100 artists who created original pieces of art out of parts of recycled cat food cans. Photo by Jason DeCrow, AP Images.
In addition to the art project, cat owners visited www.togetherwecanrecycle.com during the spring months to pledge to recycle their aluminum pet food cans. For every pledge received during this period, Nestlé Purina Pet Care Company donated $1 to KAB.
Keep America Beautiful, Inc.
2010 Annual Review