Eco-Friendly Cleaning: Dog Bags
“Be a good neighbor” stencil on Los Angeles sidewalk
When I first started my journey to a “waste-free” lifestyle, my husband Will and I were living in the utterly trashy city of Los Angeles, C.A. With over 60,000 people living in tents or in sleeping bags on the street it is no wonder there was trash littering every sidewalk & park.
A newly budding environmentalist, I became dismayed by the gravity of our climate situation and the endless supply of trash the city seemed to be buried under. Every time I went out with gloves & a trash bag, new trash would appear with in moments. It was like a never ending cycle and I began to feel as though nothing I did made a difference. My mind turned to the serenity prayer my mother often recited to me in my anxiety ridden youth; “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” I looked down at my tiny walking companion, Fae and thought; okay, what things can I change?
I started with our dog bags.
With very few green spaces in Los Angeles picking up poo is a MUST.
But what is the point of picking up a biodegradable substance in a plastic bag where it will sit in a landfill for decades?
For pet owners picking up after your pet is just part of life. How did it start?
A Brief History:
For a long time, dogs lived outdoors, so they did their business outdoors and no one gave a second thought to it. At the top of the 20th century the first training manuals for domesticated indoor dogs hit the market, teaching owners how to train their dog to go outside for their business instead of in the house. Even still, when people let their darling dog go out, they left the poo to lay where it fell and did nothing about it. I always thought that this made the most sense, since poo is biodegradable after all. But by the 1970s in New York City, it became a major political issue.
Sign on Los Angeles apartment complex building
You see, with the city ever growing, and the popularity of pets in the home also on the rise, so was their waste problem. You couldn't go any where without having to dodge the piles, and non dog owners were getting upset about it. When NYC first suggested the law of picking up the waste, most people were repulsed by the idea of picking up after their dog, "It was much worse to think of touching the stuff than stepping in it," says Michael Brandow, author of New York's Poop Scoop Law: Dogs, the Dirt and Due Process. The city started to put up "curb your dog" signs intending for the animals to go in the gutter, and pet owners started to fear the they would have to get rid of their beloved pets. It got so heated there for a little while that politicians in favor of the poop scoop law were being threatened to not run for re-election. Once the law went into effect there were still many who were reluctant and bitter about the passing. But eventually other cities witnessed the success of the law and it started to go into effect all over the country.
What Can I Change?
While the history behind this law is all very interesting, I still wanted to know why we use plastic? What can we use besides plastic? This whole investigation started out at my local Petsmart; I had just run out of bags and I was looking to see if there was a more sustainable option available. To my slight irritation, the most eco-friendly option was a package of bags labeled "recycled plastic dog bags". Surely, there is something biodegradable on the market, I thought to myself and to the internet I went. My research lead to more questions. How degradable are these "eco-friendly" bags? Is it still wasteful to send a biodegradeable bag of poo to the dump where it is just going to sit among trash and contribute to the methane problem? There are flushable waste bags?! Is it safe to compost pet waste?
Stencil on sidewalk in L.A.
Many people are happy to use recycled plastic in the forms of old sandwich or produce bags, newspaper bags, grocery bags; if it could be repurposed to hold poop, people were using it. While that is great for some, that is not what I wanted for myself so I kept digging. Turns out there are quite a few biodegradable options made of vegetable plastics that decompose at a much faster rate than other kinds of plastic, some starting to break down in as little as 7-10 days. Here are some of the best Biodegradable bag options available:
BioBag Fully biodegradable and compostable! BioBag not only sells pet waste bags but kitchen waste bags as well!
Paper Bags Just plain, paper sacks commonly used for lunch bags or crafts. 100% biodegradable. Maybe not as user friendly as a plastic bag but cleaner for the environment.
PoopBags PoopBags has a variety of options to choose from including scented bags and kitty litter liners!
Earth Rated PoopBags This company prides itself in making bags "big enough even for a Great Dane’s pile," comes in a nice lavender scent and even has options with handles for easy tying.
Flush Puppies Yes, you read that right. This company claims their bag is not only compostable but it is also flushable! They are made of Polyvinyl Alcohol, which is a water soluble alternative to regular plastic. "Flush Puppies™ are specifically made to be flushed down the toilet along with your pet’s waste."
While they are made to be flushed down the toilet, some systems like septic tanks would not be able to handle them.
Now, all of these bags state that they are 100% compostable, but it should be noted that pet waste over time can culture bacteria that is hazardous to human health. Pet waste should not be used in a home composter that is intended for a vegetable garden, but plants that won't be eaten should be fine, when handled with care (i.e. gloves). Greener cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Denver have municipal composting available, and many are specialized in handling pet waste.
Sweet baby Fae
Whether you just let them go in nature or not, dogs are gonna poop. Next time you find yourself in the market for poo bags, give some of these other options a thought.
There are many little things we can change in our lives that, with time, can have a huge impact on our planet. We can do it together. One step at a time.
Happy #ecofriendlyfriday y'all.
Sending all my love,
K. Ezzell
