Pet owners can now use plastic bags to dispose of their cats’ waste properly. It’s a simple idea: use the bags to collect and dispose of kitty litter at the moment. Using plastic bags to pick up cat litter may have crossed your mind.
You may want to check at other options first, and the following reasons will show you How to Dispose of Cat Litter Without Plastic Bags.
Why You Should Stop Disposing of Cat Litter in Plastic Bags
Taking care of a pet, particularly a cat, is not demanding. As a pet owner, you’ll want to make sure that your dog or cat is clean and healthy at all times. For your own sake and that of our world, you may be preoccupied with finding ways to live a plastic-free existence.
To achieve one of these things properly, you may have to sacrifice the other to complete the other one. Because of this, cat litter should be disposed of without using plastic bags.
According to those who advocated for it, with this new policy, pet owners may lead a plastic-free lifestyle, conserve the environment, and maintain their cats in excellent condition all at once. It means that everyone benefits from the arrangement.
Plastic Pollution: A Global Issue
As convenient as plastic bags may be, they are bad for the environment. They are created with fossil fuels and then disposed of in landfills and the ocean after only one usage.
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In the ocean, microparticles from plastic bags can persist for up to 20 years before they decompose, posing a danger to marine life. We must develop alternatives to plastic bags, as more than 100 billion of them are used in the United States each year.
How to Dispose of Cat Litter Without Plastic Bags
While many of these ways don’t eliminate the use of plastic, there isn’t a perfect way to dispose of waste. It’s challenging to balance environmental friendliness, safety, and convenience. By making any of these modifications, you and your cat will reduce your carbon footprint (and theirs).
#1) Use a Biodegradable Bag to Dispose of Litter.
The use of a biodegradable bag to dispose of cat litter is worth mentioning by certain pet owners. As a result of the potential absence of enzymes necessary to decompose litter in a compost bin, this relocation may not be the best option.
As a result, using a biodegradable bag is recommended since it has the necessary warmth for the breakdown of cat litter. The best practice is to scoop the water into the garbage before putting it in the biodegradable bag when utilizing this alternative.
#2) Compost it
Cat feces can be composted, but there are some precautions you must take to ensure that it is safe to do so.
Toxoplasma Gandhi, found in cat feces, can cause toxoplasmosis in people with compromised immune systems. Pregnant women, children, and those with conditions that weaken their immune systems should be especially vigilant.
Don’t use compost made from your cat’s feces on anything edible or in any area where you might come in contact with it. Composting does not inevitably result in the death of microorganisms.
Fertilizer made from cat waste has the potential to be very effective. It is rich in nutrients and may breathe new life into your beautiful gardens.
#3) Invest in heavy-duty garbage bags
Using a heavy-duty trash bag will make it much easier to dump out a lot of litter waste or get rid of all the litter if you’re using non-clumping litter (or it’s time to switch to clumping litter).
When you pour a large quantity of litter, it can become quite heavy and shred ordinary garbage bags unless you choose a lightweight waste (like dumping out multiple litter boxes).
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Keep a huge garbage bin lined with a heavy-duty bag out in the garage and empty your litter into it. You can then throw it away. If the trash bag tears, you won’t have to worry about a massive mess.
#4) Cat Litter should be buried.
Outside cat litter can be disposed of safely and responsibly, but only if correctly.
Tossing kitty litter into the street is both dangerous and unlawful. Storm drains, creeks, and rivers can get infested with harmful parasites and pathogens when rain falls.
It is necessary to bury litter outside to dispose of it properly. However, this isn’t an option for everyone.
You’ll need a lot of lands to be able to dig a grave far enough away from food and water supplies (like wetlands, streams, ponds, and storm drains). In general, avoid burying dog feces near people’s property or in the vicinity of structures such as houses or fences.
The soil must be able to support the growth of vegetation. Pet feces buried in arid or polar regions will not decompose as they should over time.
You must choose a biodegradable and additive-free litter, like wood pellets, paper, or wheat. Cat litter, whether crystal or clay, should never be buried.
Please put it in the ground by digging at least 10 inches deep and immediately covering it with soil. To keep soiled litter and waste out of the landfill, keep it in an airtight container until you have enough to justify the expense of digging.
#5) Remove and Dispose of Cat Waste
Putting the kitty litter in a biodegradable trash bag before putting it in the trash is the most outstanding alternative you have.
When it’s time to replace the cat litter in the box in the next 30 days, you can dump the old rubbish into a newspaper and throw it away.
#6) Newspaper
You can use paper bags and newspapers; however, this isn’t the best alternative. Plastic degrades more slowly than either of these options, but the process is reduced when crushed in a landfill. You’re also wasting newspaper and brown paper since you’re not recycling it, which is the proper way to dispose of them.
#7) Carry a More Eco-Friendly Bag
It is the simplest way on this list, but it isn’t necessarily the most effective.
Pet waste bags made from plants that decompose are becoming more prevalent. That being said, despite their superior environmental performance, these bags are harmful to the environment.
Even biodegradable bags have difficulty breaking down in landfills because of the densely packed, anaerobic environment. When they finally decompose, they won’t be releasing hazardous microplastics into our land and water.
You can also use paper bags or newspapers to dispose of cat litter. However, in a landfill, paper degrades more slowly than biodegradable bags. In addition, you’re throwing away paper instead of recycling it.
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Finally, a tertiary approach is to use recycled plastic bags. It takes 88% less energy to make these from recycled plastic than virgin raw materials. Keep an eye out for bags that claim to be made from “100 percent post-consumer recycled materials.”
#8) Plant Grass Seed
Grass seed can be used as an alternative to plastic bags for disposing of cat litter. In the first place, you won’t have to be concerned about it dispersing dust, and the litter-derived odor will be eliminated.
#9) Systematize a Litter Disposal Plan to Reduce Plastic Use
There are odor and bacteria-sealing receptacles known as litter disposal systems to dispose of pet waste.
If the multi-gallon capacity isn’t filled, you won’t have to empty it. Because of this, you can considerably reduce litter box cleanings in plastic usage.
The Litter Champ, for example, includes a biodegradable lining that you can easily remove. In other words, you’ll only ever use the amount of liner that is required, and there will be no wasted product.
Unfortunately, the usual biodegradable liners continue to be plastic-based in construction. Additive-treated plastic degrades far more quickly than plain old plastic bagging in nature.
Third-party biodegradable options are available. Most will still work with any biodegradable bag of your choice, as long as it’s the right size and shape.
#10) Collect It
To put it another way, a litter disposal system is nothing more than a container for litter. Litter is gathered over a few days and then dumped when the disposal system is full. You may use one bag per week instead of five every day in this gadget similar to a bin, but it’s smaller. It’s made to keep the cat litter stench contained. Even if this bag is eventually disposed of, you can further reduce your environmental footprint by using biodegradable bags.
Avoid flushing cat litter/poop down the drain!
Even if it sounds like a good idea, flushing cat feces down the toilet is not suggested for various reasons.
- When moist, most cat litter expands dramatically. Having to pay thousands of dollars in the future to remedy plumbing and septic system problems isn’t something you want to do.
- Toxoplasma Gondii and other parasites can enter the water system if cat excrement is dumped down municipal drains. As a result, wastewater treatment facilities will be unable to eliminate pollutants before they reach the water supply, infecting humans and other animals. Even if the package says it’s “safe to flush,” don’t flush cat litter down the toilet!
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FAQs – How to Dispose of Cat Litter Without Plastic Bags
How do you properly dispose of cat litter?
Make sure you scoop out any clumps of urine or excrement and place them in a small garbage bag. Put a knot in the garbage bag once you’ve collected up all the boxes in your house. Double bag your scooped litter to keep odors and bacteria from leaking out. Tightly seal the lid of an exterior trash can.
Can you put cat litter in general waste?
Cat litter and other pet waste should be bagged and deposited in the trash. Dog feces are precisely the same.
Can you put used cat litter in the garden?
If your cat litter is manufactured from biodegradable materials like pine, wheat, corn, or chicken feed, you can safely compost it. You can use them in your garden or on your balcony in a tree pot. Aside from deterring animals, the fragrance of a cat will help enrich the soil and improve plant health.
Conclusion
We hope that the above guide on How to Dispose of Cat Litter Without Plastic Bags will benefit you. Cat waste must, however, be appropriately disposed of at landfills due to the dangers it poses to human health. Throwing it out with your usual trash implies that you’ll need to use more trash bags each week. Because of this, you can still eliminate smaller plastic bags for everyday trash cleaning duties.
