Water Management

Water is a precious natural resource and is respectfully treated at Special Dog Company. Currently, 33% of all the water consumed to supply our plant’s operation in Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo comes from alternative sources, like rainwater collection and reuse practices. Our water management activities are oriented by the continuous search for better ways to make the use of water more rational. The investment in clean technologies and improvements in the process never stops, however it is just a part of the job.

The Umbrella Project uses the plant’s roofs to collect rainwater in order to reuse it in activities such as washing the trucks and irrigation. There are kilometers of pipelines connected to reservoirs that provide the water consumed in the company, thus minimizing the use of fresh water. The (ETS) Effluent Treatment Station operates with an average efficiency of 98,8% - way above the 80% demanded by law. Soon, the effluents that have been treated will also provide another alternative source for water reuse.

Since 2016, the water management resource program has already registered a drop of about 368 million liters in the volume of the groundwater that is drained. It corresponds to two months of water consumption in a city of 50.000 inhabitants.

Solid Waste Management

The main goal of our solid waste management policy is making the operation of Special Dog Company free from this kind of residue. With recyclability rates of 99%, we are currently paving our path to become what is known as a “zero landfill” company, which means that all its rubbish and waste is either reused or recycled.

Much has been done in order to reach this goal. Since 2015, even with a 30% growth of the company, we have been able to reduce in 70% the generation of industrial residues due to innovation and awareness.

After implementing a composting system, all the organic residues from the cafeteria have automatically been turned into fertilizer, which is used in our gardens and organic vegetable gardens, which by the way, provide the vegetables that enrich the menu of all 600 free meals that are daily served to the employees.

The Special Dog Company also promotes, in Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, the Ecologist Program, focused on recycling the plastic packaging of our products after they’ve been consumed, the Art Circular Project, which turns used uniforms into items of the pet universe, and also campaigns encouraging the recycling of cooking oil and batteries.

Donation Program

It’s estimated that, in Brazil, there are currently about 170 thousand cats and dogs living in pet shelters, waiting to be adopted. These animals are hosted by NGOs and individuals that become responsible for nurturing them while promoting their voluntary adoption. The Special Dog Company recognizes these initiatives as fundamental to animal welfare and supports them by donating high quality pet food to keep them nourished and strong during all the period they wait for adoption.

Our donation program annually promotes the selection of the shelters, NGOs and individuals that will be benefited with the products. In order to be eligible, these initiatives must had been operating for at least two years prior the selection and also be located within the company’s field of action, which is formed by: Federal District, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina and São Paulo. They must also be approved in a technical avaliation performed by our professionals.

At about 40 initiatives are supported every year by Special Dog’s donating program. The selecting process for those who are eligible and interested, always happens in January.

Donate Love Campaign

Not differently from humans, cats and dogs might also need to receive blood when they get sick. The blood transfers saves many lives, but it directly depends on blood donations. For this reason, since 2018 the Special Dog Company promotes the Donate Love campaign, widely spreading the awareness about the importance of blood donation within the pet world.

The campaign acts in order to promote and advertise the blood donation among pet owners, and supports the professional qualification in hemotheraphy to cats and dogs. In order to fulfill this goal we have a hotsite, video, social media posts, flyers to tutors and technical material for professionals of the area.

Our goal is to encourage the dog and cat owners to bring their pets for blood donating. The campaign also aims to highlight that the blood transfusion is a treatment option that can save lives.

The Donate Love Campaign relies on a chain of 55 partner blood banks in the following states: Bahia, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina e São Paulo. Between 2019 and 2021, the average donation rates raised from 400 to 1500.

Valuing and Caring for people

The people who make the Special Dog Company are the ones who highlight us. If it weren’t for the commitment, both in individual and group initiatives, of all our 1200 employees, it wouldn’t be possible to deliver such high quality products as the ones we do, not to mention to keep active in terms of responsibility towards both to society and the environment.

Our human resource policy aims to promote a fair, respectable and supportive working environment. We embrace diversity by respecting the differences and supporting the inclusion, and we walk this talk through the program We’re the Same. Our goal is to have 35% of our leadership positions occupied by woman until 2025, we are currently in 21%.

Our labor safety and health (LSH) management system is very strict and certified by ISO 45001. It helps us keeping a healthy and safe working environment. We always rank among the top positions of GPTW Brazil since 2013, and we were awarded in 2019, in our area, as the best company to work at in Latin America.

Cultural Chance

We defend the right that every human being has of benefiting from art and becoming an active member of the community’s cultural life. That’s why, in 2014, we created the Special Dog Cultural Center. The organization is held at a 19^th century restored house, and stands as a place that promotes and spreads art and culture.

Currently with 500 students, the space welcomes people from all ages and integrates the social investment actions of the Special Dog Company. The activities include 24 courses in the musical area, symphonic orchestra formation, choral singing, circus skills, handcrafting, sewing and gastronomy, 70% of the openings are filled with members of the community and 30% with people connected to the company.

Beside the courses, the entity also promotes concerts, theater plays, traditional celebrations, among other artistic performances opened to the community. Supported by incentive laws, the Special Dog Company has already brought to the Cultural Center stage, the Philharmonic Bachiana String Orchestra and the Baccarelli Institute. The groups were conducted by the maestros João Carlos Martins and Isaac Karabtchevsky, respectively, with the participation of our students, filling all of them with pride and joy.

Caring for Childhood

The word “care” is really strong for us: care for the people and the relationships, the products and process, the environment and the community. In our social actions, caring for childhood is the priority of our work, which is carried out in different fronts.

The Child Education Manager development Project is made in partnership with Avisa Lá Institute, from São Paulo, and its goal is to improve the quality of the education delivered to children from 0 to 6 years old in Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo public school system. The action benefits 200 professionals, 20 entities and almost two thousand children.

In the field of children’s protection, we are partners of Childhood Brazil, in the development of “Programa na Mão Certa” which fights the sexual exploitation of children and teenagers. The program prepares truck drivers to be agents of childhood protection throughout the Brazilian roads. About 300 drivers and staff from the Special Dog fleet are part of this initiative.

We also have the Project “Turminha Special Dog” comic book, a social and environmental awareness publication that is distributed to 35 thousand children in the eight states that we operate.

Take Care Program

The voluntary work is a way we use to interact with the community and also a powerful tool of development, in which the people can contribute with their best efforts in order to change the world. The Voluntary work Program Take Care currently has 280 volunteers, which corresponds to 20% of our personnel.

The volunteer work supports the actions of social responsibility and environment preservation developed by the company, which are mainly focused on child education, social assistance, animal welfare and sustainability. The employees are free to join the actions, which also welcomes the participation of their family members and the society in general.

One of these actions is the Project Connecting Care, a series of virtual meetings, for social interaction and entertainment, involving volunteers and children who live in the shelter “Educandário Lar da Criança” in Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo.

In other front, we have the Project “Hands that Care”, that has produced more than 22 thousand masks for donation, and also perform repairs in public institutions such as schools and institutional shelters.