With Earth Day being celebrated this week, keep in mind that we can help our dogs and cats do their part too! PoopBags.com, a small business based out of Chicago provides a line of biodegradable pet waste products. These pet poop bags meet the ASTM D6400 specification for biodegradability which requires that the material will degrade at a similar rate as an apple would , and that it will leave no large plastic fragments.

PoopBags.com notes that their product is made from a combination of corn and other renewable products, have no chemical additives to enhance decomposition, and biodegrade naturally when exposed to micro-organisms in the soil. They also state that their product “breathes”, allowing heat and moisture to escape. It is this feature that reduces bacterial build-up of collected waste thus reducing odor.

CONSIDER THESE FACTS

• It is estimated that over 4 million tons of dog waste go uncollected annually.
• 25 percent of all pollutants in waterways are attributed to dog waste.
• Plastics are the fourth highest generated waste in the United States. Originating from petroleum, which is non-renewable, plastics do not biodegrade and take thousands of years to break down. A thin plastic bag can sit for 100 years and harm fish and wildlife and plug drainage sewers in cities…along with many other problems. Paper, yard trimmings, and food scraps are the top three categories of generated waste. All of these however, come from renewable sources.
• Plastics are the least recycled with a 6.9% recovery rate. Over 30 million tons of plastic go unrecycled each year.

SOLUTION… (more…)