In comments on the bag shyness post, Kristen said:

I’ll be honest: Even though I own several reusable shopping bags, I seldom use them. The reason? I have three cats, and I use plastic grocery bags when I clean the litterbox because I can tie them up when I’m done.

Sorry I’m picking on you Kristen, but I think this is a great topic. We’ve talked about green cat litter here, but we haven’t spent much time on litter disposal.

It’s difficult to think about buying a biodegradable bag for cat waste disposal when you can get plastic bags for free at the store. However, plastic bags (the ones offered now that are made with petroleum) may not always be free or even legal. As awareness is spreading about the pollution caused by plastic bags, more cities and countries are outlawing them. Ideally, all stores will start offering biodegradable bags made from corn. Or even more ideally, all consumers will take their own bags.

I use Feline Pine, and they recommend disposing of solid cat waste daily, then getting rid of the litter when it’s spent. Feline Pine is flushable, but it’s not recommended.

Ways to avoid disposing of cat litter

• Flushing — The Sea Otter Alliance cautions against flushing cat waste and litter. Sea otters are becoming infected with Toxoplasma. Also, Nature’s Earth, makers of Feline Pine, says, “… we at Nature’s Earth strongly urge our customers to dispose of their cat’s feces in the garbage — especially if you live in a coastal community.”

• Composting — Cat waste can be toxic. You don’t want it in your veggie garden.

Greener cat litter disposal

• Biodegradable corn-based cat pan liners from BioBag — This solves the problem of what to do with spent litter in a handy way, but it doesn’t help with the daily poop scooping.

• A recycled paper bag — Some stores like Whole Foods now offer these. I’m not saying to stop taking your own bags, but maybe skip occasionally to stock up. I feel so guilty saying that!

While BioBags can take care of litter disposal, the problem of cat poop disposal isn’t easily solved. While traditional plastic bags offered at most stores aren’t biodegradable, they require less energy to make than virgin paper bags. If you use a paper bag, everything will break down in the landfill. I’m going to also offer another option on cat waste disposal.

Greener cat waste disposal

• Use a BioBag pooper bag designed for dogs. It’s biodegradable, same as the litter pan liners. Take this directly to your garbage bin.

Hmm, I was going to suggest using a separate pet trash can lined with a recycled paper bag or BioBag kitchen bag, but I think odor would be a problem.

How do you dispose of your cat’s litter/waste?

Image via flickr.

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Feline Pine is compressed pellets of recycled pine. As the cat urinates, the pellets break down into sawdust. Scoop the poop daily with a slotted scooper that allows for most of the unused pellets to go back into the litter box. Then you flush the kitty poop.* Give the box a shake to settle the dust on the bottom and the pellets on top. Change litter when most of the pellets have been used up.

*Important note: If you live in a coastal area, dispose of cat feces in the trash rather than the toilet. Why? Cat feces is harming sea otters. Learn more at Feline Pine.

There are several reasons I like this litter:

•It’s natural. Really, it’s made of pine! (Pressurized to remove harmful wood oils.)

•100 percent recycled. No trees harmed.

•Smells good even after it gets deluged with cat pee.

•It’s biodegradable and renewable. (Unlike clay litter which does not decompose.)

•100 percent chemical free. No fragrance needed.

•There’s no horrible silica dust like with clay litter. That’s better for kitty and you.

•Size of pellets reduces chance of feline ingestion while grooming.

There’s really only one thing I don’t like about it:

Once it’s almost time for a litter change, the tracking is pretty bad. They make a special self-cleaning litter box to eliminate this problem, but Choco is at home in his existing litter box, which is more private.

What to try it? Feline Pine makes it easy with a free bag rebate for new users.

Have you used this or other green cat litters? What did you think?

(Image by Peggy Rowland. Yeah, that’s Choco snooping around the bag practicing his plastic fetish.)

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