The Best Way to Dispose Of Biodegradable Dog Poop Bags

Pet owners will know that dogs will often poop at the worst of times – out in public, several times on a walk, etc – so it’s important to know what the most eco-friendly options are for disposing of this excrement. Biodegradable dog poop bags are emerging as a convenient plastic alternative, but what does this mean?

Biodegradable dog poop bags are a convenient and eco-friendly way to dispose of dog poop as they are able to break down in a landfill environment quicker than traditional plastic. This means that you can dispose of the poo and the bag in the park bin, your home bin or anywhere you come across a bin!

Can You Flush Biodegradable Dog Poop Bags?

In order to understand whether or not you can flush certain bags, it’s important to understand what type of waste disposal your toilet uses – septic or sewerage. For those with septic tanks, you can dispose of your biodegradable dog poop bags (and the poop inside!) by flushing down the toilet.

However, do make sure it won’t clog your pipes – those with larger dogs may want to consider emptying the bag first before flushing. These biodegradable dog poop bags will break down in landfill and septic systems.

If you are using normal sewerage, you may want to rethink flushing the bag as this can pose hazards to typical sewerage systems. You can however, flush the poop down the toilet and toss the bag in the bin as it will break down faster in landfill than traditional plastic bags.

Always consider where you will dispose of your plastic alternatives and how this fits with current guidelines and the environment in which you’re disposing into.

Where Does Stuff Go When You Flush It Down The Toilet?

When you flush the toilet, where does your waste go? Well, this depends again on what system you are operating under: septic tank or sewerage. Certain countries will have a prevalence of one system or another depending on where people are living. City folk will typically link to sewerage systems and rural or regional will often have septic tanks.

Essentially, whenever you flush the toilet, your excrement, wee, toilet paper and water go down the pipe which is when the process changes depending on system used. Your waste and water will take one of two directions: through a pipe to the local sewer or into a septic tank on your property.

What Happens When I Flush With A Septic Tank?

If you have a septic tank, when you flush the waste, paper and water go down into your septic tank which can hold around 4,000 liters of liquid from your toilet, shower, sinks etc. This is when bacteria gets to work by reducing solids into liquids and creating a residue.

Certain particles then sink to the bottle and form a sludge while the fats create a layer on the top of the tank. WIthin 48 hours or so, the bacteria will have broken down the wastewater by about 40-50 per cent. Then the water travels into an underground drainage for the bacteria to continue working while the soil filters the waste.

From here, the soil’s oxygen allows this bacteria in and takes on chemicals like nitrogen for the plants. Of course, certain things shouldn’t be flushed in a septic tank such as tampons, cotton, plastic etc as they won’t dissolve.

What Happens When I Flush With Sewerage?

If you are using your town sewer system, then your waste takes a different journey away from your backyard. When you flush, everything travels down the pipe and into the sewer which essentially flows along collecting other people’s waste until they flow into bigger pipes.

This of course, combines with your other water from sinks and showers to flow to your community’s sanitary sewer system to a wastewater treatment facility. This is where the water is purified for use as recycled water.

Again, you shouldn’t be flushing sanitary items, plastics and other items as they can clog pipes and interfere with the treatment process. It’s also unnecessary.

What Is The Best Way To Dispose of Dog Poop Bags?

Disposing of your dog poop bags can contribute to landfill if you’re using the traditional bags which are made from polyethylene resin (PE). The only way to dispose of these is through landfill which contributes to the waste problem.

Disposing of these anywhere else will contribute to waste and potentially impact wildlife and soil in your environment. If you’re using normal plastic, please ensure you’re disposing of into a bin. Then consider your other options such as biodegradable dog poop bags.

Never dispose of normal plastic in a composter or worm farm as this will contaminate the rest of the waste.

What Are Made Of?

Biodegradable plastic is classed as a ‘bioplastic’ and more environmentally friendly than traditional plastic due to its ability to break down quicker than traditional plastic and the use of less electricity, water and lower greenhouse emissions during manufacturing.

This type of plastic is made to break down faster with specially designed microbes that speed up the decomposing process. Biodegradable plastic is also often known as ‘bio-based’ plastic as it still contains some toxic chemicals, unlike compostable plastic.

Bioplastic refers to plastic alternatives that are made from renewable sources such as organic materials. Two examples of a bioplastic are compostable plastic and biodegradable plastic. This essentially means that these plastics are more sustainable and environmentally friendly than traditional plastics which cause several issues for the environment.

Biodegradable plastic is made by extracting the sugar from plants like corn and sugarcane. These are then converted into polylactic acids. Another way to make biodegradable plastic is to engineer it from microorganisms which are made to break down the plastic quicker.

What Are The Benefits Of Using Biodegradable Dog Poop Bags?

There are several benefits of using biodegradable dog poop bags, including your environmental footprint as the main one! Many people feel better knowing they are taking steps to protect the environment and lower their impact by using these bags.

Other benefits of biodegradable dog poop bags include:

Many ingredients are natural and will break down into a natural state.
They are convenient to dispose of – going in with your other garbage or in the park bin.
The bag will break down quicker in a landfill environment than traditional plastic.
They are reasonably safe for humans, wildlife, the environment and animals.

However, they do contain some traditional plastic so you should understand they can leave behind a toxic residue. Of course this is on a much lower scale than traditional plastic.

What Other Eco-Friendly Dog Poop Bags Are There?

Another great option that people are starting to use for dog poop disposal is compostable dog poop bags. These can be disposed of in a home worm farm, home composter or an industrial composter and will be used as fertiliser.

Compostable plastic is an alternative to the typical toxic plastic most popular items such as plastic bags have been made from for decades. While a typical plastic bag may take thousands of years to break down, compostable plastic will break down into natural matter.

Why, you may ask? Because compostable plastic is made entirely from natural components! This means that in the right environment, it will break down into its natural state. Even with dog poop inside it! However, you do need to make sure you’re not adding too much acidic dog poo to your composter and not adding the poo to your worm farm.

Worm farms can suffer if you add animal excrement, so consider flushing or adding the dog poo to your composter or garden instead of the worm farm.

Why Should I Stop Using Plastic Dog Poop Bags?

If you’ve come to this blog then you have taken the first step to making a change! Why should you stop using plastic in your everyday life? Simply, to lower your environmental footprint and lessen your contribution to landfill and waste.

Did you know that plastic bags including dog poop bags are bad for the environment? Plastic is everywhere around us but unfortunately, when it’s sent to landfill it will take hundreds to thousands of years to break down.

This is terrible for our waste problem as well as the environment such as wildlife, soil and waterways.

What Does Plastic Do To The Environment?

Traditional plastic – such as you’ll see in everything from food packaging, carry bags and trash bags to toys and building products – contributes negatively to our environment in many ways,

Traditional plastic contributes to many environmental issues such as:

Landfill contributions.
Toxic leaching into the environment (soil, water).
Can be toxic for wildlife, animals and humans (at some levels, depending on the plastic).
Uses raw materials such as crude oil which are not good for the environment.
Use higher levels of energy and water for manufacturing.
Releases greenhouse emissions into the environment during manufacturing.

Most of our traditional plastics can’t be recycled and contribute to not only landfill but are toxic for wildlife and soil. Plastic can take decades, centuries or even thousands of years to break down.

What Are ETSUS Pet Poop Bags All About?

Companies across the globe are recognising the need for more eco-friendly waste options such as dog poop bags. So, here at ETSUS we invested in biodegradable/compostable dog poop bags for our customers who want to make a difference to the environment.

Our bags are not only a fashionable pink colour and come with a handy grey dispenser, they are also eco-friendly! Our bags are made from corn starch, won’t tear, keep out odor, won’t leak and will help you clean up after your favourite pet!

You can also 100 per cent compost these! Dispose of them in your worm farm (watch the acidic dog poo), in an industrial composter or in your home composter.

How Do You Dispose of ETSUS Dog Poop Bags?

ETSUS provide some great options for those wanting a more eco-friendly option for dog waste disposal and that’s in the form of dog poop bags! These are actually compostable (100 per cent so!) which are much better for the environment long term.

You can dispose of these really easily by placing them in a home composter, worm farm or in a facility that has an industrial composter. This means that your dog poo will then create fertiliser! However, still remember that you need to dispose of properly NOT throw into the woods.

You also can’t place these in landfill as they won’t break down and will add to the landfill problem. So just think, you’re cutting your waste decomposing from potentially 10-20 years to months! How cool is that?

Conclusion

We’re not saying to stop using dog poop bags because we understand that dogs will poop anywhere. However, do consider your alternative options such as biodegradable or biodegradable dog poop bags. These are made more sustainably, contributing less greenhouse emissions to the environment.

They are still easy to dispose of – biodegradable bags can be disposed of the same way you’ve always disposed of dog poop bags! However, you can rest assured that you’re lessening your contributions to landfill with a bag that will rapidly break down.

Compostable plastic is also a great alternative due to its ability to break down into natural matter in the right environment i.e. composter or worm farm. You can find most of these bioplastic alternatives rather easily these days!

ETSUS new range of biodegradable pet poop bags provide an excellent way for you to lessen your environmental footprint and not change a thing about how you dispose of your dog’s waste! You can pop these in any bin that goes into landfill.

These bags are also made sustainably and you get a free dispenser with every purpose. Take a look now!