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If you’ve got our current Issue 119 you’ll have spotted the eight-page “Mingle’s Big 10” article and enjoyed a very entertaining read penned by Gold Coast logger/writer/muso Saxon Gallaher.

A multi talented bloke, Saxon bailed on a psychology degree moons ago to work at Billabong, before going on to start his own agency and production company. But then, two years back he took a major left turn, and with partners Chippa Wilson (the renowned shortboarder) and Brinkley Davies (an influential sustainability advocate) invested every cent he had into starting up a “sustainable leash company” - and no, not legrope type leashes, but the world’s first truly sustainable pet leash and accessory brand, using only ocean-bound plastic.

“It’s quite easy to build a product partially using recycled material, but to build it entirely out of recycled material, without having to make sacrifices on the quality, was a big mountain to climb,” Saxon told Stab Mag.

“It’s so strange, I originally thought that the main problem with ocean-bound plastic was that it was prohibitively difficult to access and retrieve, and it was just gross — but the problem actually has much more to do with chemistry, than it does with capitalism. And, that problem has recently been surmounted by the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences. They can turn once-thought dead material into this viable base product for producing any new plastic products.

“To a basic degree, when plastic is discarded, it eventually gets irradiated by the sun and goes through this process of embrittlement, where it actually changes on a molecular level and becomes very difficult to pluck it out of the ocean and use for anything.

“But this new invention has created a potential value chain where there was none before. So now there will actually be an incentive for people in these massive plastic eddies around Indonesia and Vietnam to pluck the plastic out of the sea and sell it to companies like ours. In that respect, capitalism may be working to remove the plastic — it’s the first viable solution to the problem of plastic pollution, because it’s not relying simply on altruism.”

“In Australia, pet products are sold in these giant buildings that stock so many products and offer so many services. I’m not even that environmentally altruistic as a person, but even for me, it was super jarring to see how few sustainable pet products were available. 

“I started talking with Chippa, and he mentioned that his partner, Brinkley, is a full tilt environmentalist. She’s an extremely altruistic, environmentally conscious woman, who has devoted her whole life to researching and caring for the planet. I jumped on the phone with them and they were 100% in. So we just went guns blazing, designing products and linking up with manufacturers to build the first range.”

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Find Stab Mag’s take on PawPrint here

AND HERE’S A LITTLE MORE DIRECT FROM SAXON ON HOW HE GOT ROLLING ON THIS

I walked into a pet supplies store for the very first time about 2 years ago - on the day I picked up my sidekick Sakè. As I stood in this giant warehouse building, a consumer in this industry for the first time, I was absolutely blown away (and pretty grossed out to be honest) by the labyrinth of products, services, bells and whistles and SINGLE USE PLASTIC the store merched unashamedly from every corner. 

So we went home and started researching to see if we could find some better alternatives online. Surprisingly, I found a serious LACK of truly sustainable mission-forward brands out there that were genuinely trying to insight change. 

I’m an outdoorsy guy. And I try, where possible, to minimise my impact on the earth. So I felt I needed to start my own company that stood for these philosophies. 

After pouring two years of work and all my life savings into this idea, @pawprint.project is aliiive.

We sell the world’s first pet goods built from 100% recycled ocean-bound plastic. 

The PawPrint mission is simple: shake up this industry and drive demand for legitimately sustainable goods - so buyers can feel assured that their goods are doing no harm to the environments they love to enjoy, and so sellers are incentivised to change their behaviour to meet these new consumer demands! 

My vision: to eventually disappear into a sea of similar businesses and brands that offer amazing sustainable products backed by legitimate missions. 

If you feel like helping me toward this end, a follow @pawprint.projector a share to a pet owner you think might be interested, or a purchase of one of our first products would be huge for us! 

I’m so proud of what we’ve created. I’m excited for it’s potential. And I’m as nervous as anyone passionate about a risky project would be. So here goes nothin!