For environmentally conscious pet owners, your trash can may contain mostly dog bags, a type of pooper scooper. Wasting organic matter is unpleasant and can even be harmful if your area has switched to biweekly trash collection.
Do I have to throw away pet waste? Or can it be composted?
waste reduction
As always, reducing waste in the first place is the most environmentally friendly choice, but few animal lovers are willing to sacrifice the joy of owning a pet in order to reduce waste. It is also not a good idea to reduce the amount of food you give your animal.
but what your animal eats Affects the amount of waste they produce. Some pet foods contain indigestible fillers that can cause excess poop. Make sure you are feeding your pet a biologically appropriate and easily digestible food. Consult your veterinarian before trying different foods to reduce your pet’s output.
Making drastic changes to your pet’s diet can have an adverse effect on your pet’s waste flow.
Why shouldn’t you lie?
Why not leave the poop where your pet dropped it? After all, your lawn has a layer of autumn leaves and pet poop is organic, right? Yes, but no.
Although animal waste is organic, it can be extremely dangerous if left untreated. bad for the environment. Pet waste can transmit diseases to other animals and even humans. Pet waste smells bad, attracts flies and pests, and confuses anyone or animal unlucky enough to step inside it. As it decomposes, both surface and groundwater become contaminated with its nutrients and, worse, with parasites and high concentrations of E. coli and other bacteria.
Please do not flush
It may seem like a good idea to flush your pet’s waste to your sewage facility for treatment. It may be the most environmentally friendly option. Check with your local sewer utility to see if you can flush away dog waste. But the truth is, most municipal water systems aren’t equipped to handle it.
The EPA estimates that America’s pet dogs produce: 8 billion pounds The annual amount of poop is three-quarters of a pound per dog per day. Flushable pet waste bags do not always dissolve completely in the sewage system and can cause blockages. In addition, dog waste can contain: Cryptosporidiuma parasite that can also infect humans.
Ideally, wastewater treatment Although the parasites are eliminated, suboptimal treatment facilities and conditions can allow the parasites to spread. Never flush cat feces. Cat excrement includes: toxoplasma gondiia parasite that infects humans and survives municipal water treatment.
Official recommendations
Many websites claim that the EPA recommends flushing, but this is not actually the case. Perhaps it once was, but brochure The current EPA website recommends disposing of it in the garbage.
Even Seattle, a city famous for being an early and enthusiastic adopter of recycling and composting, encourages people to dispose of their waste. Put the bagged pet waste in the trash. The city of San Francisco also requires residents to dispose of pet waste in bags. black box It will be sent to a landfill.
composting
in the pastDog excrement was one of the valuable fertilizers that farmers spread on their fields, but the discovery of the germ theory put an end to the use of uncomposted excrement. a some places Although experiments are underway to compost pet waste on a large scale, municipal composting programs rarely accept pet waste along with other organic matter. when residents do not comply Due to existing composting program rules, cities can hardly be blamed for not trusting households to safely compost pet waste. However, if you are truly serious about zero waste and have the desire and ability to do it safely, it is technically possible.
To destroy pathogens, the compost must reach 145 degrees Fahrenheit and maintain that temperature for several days, which is not possible in a home compost bin. However, even a properly managed home compost pile is not guaranteed to kill all bacteria and parasites. Never use compost made from pet waste on food crops or areas where small children play.
To be safe, poop must be industrially composted, a process that can reach up to 170 degrees.
But what if you don’t have a team of sled dogs? Proceed with caution when it comes to commercial home pet waste composting systems. Many of them are too small to generate enough heat to kill pathogens. Some are more like small septic systems than composters. Most of the available information about these products is provided by the manufacturers, who often talk about the general benefits of composting without providing specific safety information about their products. .
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on November 6, 2018 and updated in November 2024.
