Green Pet Litter

Recently, with environmental awareness on the rise, there have been some concerns about the environmental impact of animal waste and pet litter.

The quandaries that pet owners face are how they can dispose of their pet’s waste most responsibly, what type of pet litter they should use, whether they in fact need pet litter and what the best way to dispose of pet litter is.

This article will examine some of the issues surrounding choosing and disposing of pet litter.

Commercial Pet Litters

There are a variety of pet litters available to buy in supermarkets and pet shops and the sheer range can make it difficult to know which to choose. Two of the main types of commercial litter are:

• Clay-Based Pet Litters;
and
• ‘Green’ Pet Litters

Clay-based pet litter is usually made from an absorbent clay called sodium bentonite. It’s clumping abilities mean that soiled clumps can easily be lifted out by pet owners, without them having to change all the litter in the tray. The only way to dispose of this type of cat litter is to send it to landfill. It can’t be flushed away. Another ethical problem with the clay-based cat litters is that the clay-mining processes used can be quite damaging.

There are now a wide range of green pet litters available on the market. They are made of natural or recycled materials such as corn kernels, recycled paper and sawdust. Most green pet litter choices are either biodegradable or can be safely flushed down the toilet. This is a preferable choice for many pet owners who don’t want to contribute to landfill waste.

DIY Pet Litter

Many environmentally conscious pet owners prefer to re-use some of their own household waste as litter for pets such as cats, rather than paying for ‘green’ pet litter or, worse, paying for commercial pet litter which is made from harmful chemicals and can only be sent to landfill.

Useful household waste and natural pet litters include:

• Sawdust
• Sand
• Soil
• Shredded newspaper; and
• Pine leaves

Some pet owners limit their use of pet litter as much as possible. For instance, many cat owners have ‘trained’ their cats to mainly go outside when they need to go! Cats will usually bury their own waste, so do not need to be monitored or cleaned up after in the same way as dogs.

Composting Pet Litter

There is much argument over whether it is safe to compost biodegradable cat and pet litters. The arguments centre around the fact that some pet faeces, such as cat and dog droppings, can contain organisms which are dangerous to humans.

However, some experts say that it is safe to compost cat and dog litter ONLY if you compost it separately from the main compost heap and well away from any vegetables. They also suggest burying the actual faeces and composting the litter only.

As cat faeces can cause potentially fatal toxoplasmosis, a lot of pet owners would prefer to err on the side of caution and do not compost their litter.