Dog Poo Bags - What's better for the environment?

[Miss Cellane]

Actually, I find this to be an interesting question.

If you have the plastic bags, you have a few choices as to what to do with them. Recycle, reuse or toss.

Clearly, just tossing them is the least environmentally friendly.

But what's the difference between reusing and recycling?

If you recycle, the bag becomes something else. But it takes time and resources and energy to accomplish this, and the process could potentially cause air or water pollution. And there is still a plastic object out there, made out of the plastic bag, that could eventually make its way to a landfill.

If you reuse the bag for pet poop, you are cutting down on the total number of plastic bags bought and used. So the resources and energy for making plastic bags are reduced. But then the bag goes into a landfill and doesn't decompose.

I think a fair bit of research would have to be done to calculate the environment impact of both choices.

What I have done is to reduce the use of what I call "one use" plastic in my life as much as possible. Plastic that can be used and reused, like food storage containers or a trash can or a laundry basket, is okay. Plastic bags, things purchased encased in plastic, throw-away plastic plates and cups, things of that nature, I try to avoid. In fact, I try to avoid "one use" things as much as possible--paper towels, wipes of all kinds, disposable anything.

And then I reuse things as much as possible. And when there is no use left in them, I recycle.

It may not be perfect, but I've been toting groceries home in canvas bags for the last 24 years. I've been using cloth napkins for the same time, and rags instead of paper towels. I'm not a fanatic about it--I use about two rolls of paper towels a year, mostly to clean up cat barf, but I used to go through a roll or two every month.

I don't think there is one perfect answer.

And, while I don't have a dog, just cats, in my town, there is a law about scooping after your dog, so people have to use plastic bags if they walk their dogs in town. On your own property, you can do as you please, but every morning on my way to work, I see many, many dog owners strolling along behind the pooch, the plastic bag of shame dangling from their hands.

[creaker]

Actually, I find this to be an interesting question.

If you have the plastic bags, you have a few choices as to what to do with them. Recycle, reuse or toss.

Clearly, just tossing them is the least environmentally friendly.

But what's the difference between reusing and recycling?

Reduce - reuse - recycle - it's in that order in terms of effectiveness.

One thing left out of this discussion is the total impact of having a pet - I would think a few plastic bags would be such a tiny fraction of the overall impact.

The hard thing is that plastic bags work so well for this function. Maybe a better idea is just looking for something else one could do to offset it? I've seen people picking up trash while walking their pets. I wonder how many bags worth of plastic is in a single plastic bottle?

[awakenedsoul]

Where can I purchase the biodegradable bags? I appreciate that recommendation...chris

I get mine at the local feed store. It's just around the corner from my house. I'm sure you can buy them at pet stores, too. I think I'll start reusing the biodegradable bags. That will save me money. I can empty them after my dog walk into the large recycled dog food bag. I can keep the small dog poop bag outside, since it's used.

[awakenedsoul]

Miss Cellane,

I do all of those things, too. I haven't bought paper towels or napkins in years. I've been using recycled flannel sheets as cloth pads for almost twenty years. It's a good feeling to make those changes. It's made a huge difference in the amount of plastic I would have thrown in the trash. My mom used cloth diapers on all four of us kids. Once we were grown, those diapers became dust cloths. I'm glad my parents taught me these things as a young child.

Maybe when I no longer need the flannel pads I can sew them into dog poop pouches. They are washable. Most people wouldn't want to take the time, but I wouldn't mind. It would save me money, too.

[iris lilies]

I don't even LIKE paper towels to clean up pet messes because they are too thin and you have to use 1/4 of a roll to get bulk. We do buy about 2 rolls annually. DH uses them for cooking bacon.

I will on occasion use them for pet messes if the mess is really awful. Otherwise, I have old towels for htat.

[Packy]

I am just sitting here, thinking: I'll just betcha, betcha anything, that one of the breeders that brought you the dogs with pushed-in faces and other oddities is working to produce a litter of puppies that has another anomaly: poolessness. The Poo-less Dogg--more progress, more convenience for the consumer. . I can envision a number of scenarios as to how that would work. But, you really don't want to hear the specifics on that one.

[Tussiemussies]

I get mine at the local feed store. It's just around the corner from my house. I'm sure you can buy them at pet stores, too. I think I'll start reusing the biodegradable bags. That will save me money. I can empty them after my dog walk into the large recycled dog food bag. I can keep the small dog poop bag outside, since it's used.

Thanks awakened soul..I am going to look in the pet store to see what they have here....

[Tussiemussies]

I have seen around a dog composter where it is buried in the ground with the lid flush to the lawn and you put your dog poo in there. I think that would work good for yard pick up, but since it is nit like a septic tank, I wonder about the stench. In the past walking my dogs, the plastic bags were a must...So the biodegradable bags will be the way for us to go if we get a new dog...

[Miss Cellane]

I don't even LIKE paper towels to clean up pet messes because they are too thin and you have to use 1/4 of a roll to get bulk. We do buy about 2 rolls annually. DH uses them for cooking bacon.

I will on occasion use them for pet messes if the mess is really awful. Otherwise, I have old towels for htat.

I use the paper towels as a sort of liner for the rag that does the bulk of the clean up.

I live alone and only do laundry once a week. Having rags sit around for days with cat barf on them is . . . unpleasant. So I use the paper towel and rag combo, and toss the paper towel and contents. The rag gets wet, but it isn't covered with stuff, so I let it dry and then wash it in the weekly wash.

I know, I should just use the rag, but for some reason, it icks me out too much. (Hangs head in shame.)

[Suzanne]

My dog refuses to poop in his own backyard. My neighbour gives me the bags her newspapers come in, and that's what I use for poop pick-up. Yes, these bags do go into the black bin for landfill. I used to buy the biodegradable dog poop bags, but if these go into landfill, they still don't decompose. It takes air and moisture to decompose even the biodegradable bags, and landfills are designed to be air and moisture-tight. http://www.greenlivingonline.com/art...ut-bioplastics

The question then is, should dog poop go into landfill? There aren't a whole lot of options for city dwellers. Carry it home in a little bucket and flush it down the toilet? This might be problematic if an overloaded sewage plant spills material into the environment, as happened in the San Francisco Bay Area when pathogens from cat litter killed sea otters. Of course, human wastes are not necessarily a blessing to the Bay! Compost it? not an option for apartment dwellers. Also not a good option for people with a backyard unless they can do a really hot first composting followed by a long slow cold composting - around a six-month time period.

While I do question my choice at intervals, I use my neighbour's bags and drop them, tightly tied, into the black bin for the landfill.