Paws and Planet: Zero-Waste Poop Bags
No matter what type of pet poop you use, never leave bags littered on pavements, parks or in the countryside. It takes around nine weeks to break down, and the pathogens (along with remnants of medicines and dog shampoos) can harm other creatures (especially other pets and cattle).
Plastic poop bags can break down into microplastics, and end up harming marine creatures. Although recycled plastic poop bags use up waste, they cause the same harm if they’re littered.
Councils can also help by providing dispensing stations with free compostable bags (it’s human nature that sometimes people forget bags). And this costs councils less than sending out staff to pick up poop that has been dropped, maybe because someone innocently forgot to take a bag with them.
PoopShark (US) is a nifty invention, designed to tackle the huge issue of what to do with dog poop from our adorable four-legged friends. With billions of pet dogs worldwide (all of whom poop!), it’s a growing issue on how to pick up the poop, without using plastic.
Unless you’re a super-pro expert, you can’t compost dog poop, because it’s so rich in nitrogen, that it needs high-carbon counterparts to make it safe. Also you can’t legally sell food that uses pet compost.
Pooch Paper (US) is similar, each box of 20 sheets can be enclosed in a zipped canvas bag, and it also sells steel-coated paper pooch dispensing stations for councils, parks, tenant buildings and animal shelters.
Read up on volunteer dog walking and humane dog training (includes info on safe collars).
Ignore greenwashing for poop bags
‘Biodegradable poop bags’ are not good enough (balloons are biodegradable, six months after falling into the sea and killing sea turtles). Look for the words ‘home compostable’. This does not mean that you compost the bags (you could chop up unused ones to avoid suffocating compost creatures).
Just that once used, you can safely bin them. To break down safely using anoerebic digestion, in industrial composting systems (and if your council doesn’t have one, use your vote!)
Three authentic brands of compostable poop bags are:
- The Green Poop Bag (UK)
- Project Harmless (UK)
- The Good Paw (NZ)
Light public park with dog poop!
Park Spark Project (US) is a great idea, to encourage people to pick up the poop. People literally throw the poop inside, use a hand crank and this produces energy to light the park!
