Thinking About Dog Poop
So lately I've been thinking about dog poop. My dog's poop, specifically.
Since adopting Benny we've been collecting plastic bags to clean up after him on our neighborhood walks. And using plastic bags, or even having them, has never sat well with me. Plastic bags are kinda evil.
For years we've been using less and less plastic bags, always bringing reusable bags to the grocery store and pulling out my little reusable tote (always stuffed into my purse) while shopping. But lately, now with the need for them, we've been more lax about accepting them at stores. And I don't like it.
Then there's the landfill issue -- another sensitive subject with me. I'm overly-aware of what we throw out. Can I reuse it? Can I compost it? Can I recycle it? Those plastic bags of poop drop right into my trash bin and get taken to the landfill where they'll decompose very very very slowly. I read recently it takes over a 100 years for a plastic bag of dog poop to even begin to break down. What?!
Though, I did read (here) the heat in the plastic bag does a pretty good job of killing the bad pathogens found in the poo -- so there's that.
But knowing Benny's poo will be around longer than Benny is not making me comfortable with the whole concept.
Flushing? I read there are environmentally-conscious owners picking up waste with newspaper and flushing it down the toilet and recycling the newspaper. Well, besides the gross-factor, some septic systems and town sewer systems can't treat that waste. So not always an option either. Also, I currently have no access to newspaper, with no active subscriptions (though I imagine I could substitute magazines, I have those).
There's an option of buying biodegradable doggie poop bags -- though, there's apparently some controversy about which brands are actually biodegradable, so research is needed here. I like this idea because the image of a poop-filled Target bag outliving me is frustrating. But, ugh, PAYING money for a poop bag is literally a waste of money. I'm getting the plastic bags one way or another -- why pay for something I am just handed at the store for free?
Usually, I use these posts to make a decision on something. But today, no. I'm still not sure the right course of action. The research will continue ....
Since adopting Benny we've been collecting plastic bags to clean up after him on our neighborhood walks. And using plastic bags, or even having them, has never sat well with me. Plastic bags are kinda evil.
For years we've been using less and less plastic bags, always bringing reusable bags to the grocery store and pulling out my little reusable tote (always stuffed into my purse) while shopping. But lately, now with the need for them, we've been more lax about accepting them at stores. And I don't like it.
Then there's the landfill issue -- another sensitive subject with me. I'm overly-aware of what we throw out. Can I reuse it? Can I compost it? Can I recycle it? Those plastic bags of poop drop right into my trash bin and get taken to the landfill where they'll decompose very very very slowly. I read recently it takes over a 100 years for a plastic bag of dog poop to even begin to break down. What?!
Though, I did read (here) the heat in the plastic bag does a pretty good job of killing the bad pathogens found in the poo -- so there's that.
But knowing Benny's poo will be around longer than Benny is not making me comfortable with the whole concept.
Flushing? I read there are environmentally-conscious owners picking up waste with newspaper and flushing it down the toilet and recycling the newspaper. Well, besides the gross-factor, some septic systems and town sewer systems can't treat that waste. So not always an option either. Also, I currently have no access to newspaper, with no active subscriptions (though I imagine I could substitute magazines, I have those).
There's an option of buying biodegradable doggie poop bags -- though, there's apparently some controversy about which brands are actually biodegradable, so research is needed here. I like this idea because the image of a poop-filled Target bag outliving me is frustrating. But, ugh, PAYING money for a poop bag is literally a waste of money. I'm getting the plastic bags one way or another -- why pay for something I am just handed at the store for free?
Usually, I use these posts to make a decision on something. But today, no. I'm still not sure the right course of action. The research will continue ....
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