Thursday, November 5, 2009

Composting pet poo?

My not so brilliant dog, Cori, posing for this question: Would you compost my poo?



We try try try to compost/recycle whatever possible here and the knowledge that this is available/can be made:
http://www.bloomindesigns.com/product/Z-CAG000020/Pet_Poop_Composter.html
 http://www.cleanairgardening.com/petwastebin.html

is intriguing yet frightening at the same time.  (Also, a $100?! Seriously?!?!)

If you want to get real science fiction here's this version... for $400:
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/compost-your-pets-poop.html

 I feel guilty using little plastic newspaper baggies (I know, I know I get a newspaper... tree killer!) but the paper is helpful and I recycle/reuse it!) to pick up the dog's poo, but the idea of it being somewhat hermetically sealed in a knotted off baggie in the middle of a landfill does not make me feel great, but the idea of have that stinkiness still around the yard is plenty enough to send me running.

I know that techically it should stop smelling when it composts down and you can seal it well enough so that no "aromas" leak out, but still there's that ick factor.

As my dog won't do it in our yard, we'd still have to use something to transport the stuff for a good distance if I even if I really wanted to consider composting my dog's poo.


Most of the sites tend to mention not to use this stuff on/in your vegetable gardens because of the uncertainty that the e. coli will break down, so that might be problematic as well since I have very few things I grow that I don't eat.

Hmmm... oak tree want some doggy compost?  Bet the squirrels would love that.

This ironic question pops up of course: "why are we composting our dog's poo and not ours?"

Sadly we don't have a composting toilet or gray water system as sweet as a setup like that would be, and we're really iffy on doing that as we don't plan to be here for a real long time, so that cost thing is rough.  UNLESS, we build an outhouse.  Ok, no.  I already whimper when I have to enter our cold bathroom in the winter, let's not have frozen tears going on when I just want to tinkle.

(eek, too much info...I have a  bad tendency for that..)

Anyhow, interesting questions and I leave you with a tutorial on how to build one of your own, using an "in the ground method:"

 http://reducing-waste.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_build_your_own_pet_waste_composter