The scoop – and poop – on what to do about pet doo-doo

Being a pet owner carries a lot of responsibility. Part of that is dealing with the cleanup; you know, of pet feces – the unflattering part of the job that, I know, most pet owners abhor. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why the mess isn’t handled in like manner as human excrement is: Flushed down the commode, in other words. The exception, of course, would be where the disposal of “litter-boxed” (excuse my French) cat crap is concerned.

Sure, more water may wind up being wasted when doing this, but at least money expended and the time and material required that go into manufacturing all the plastic bags that are used to put the shoveled outdoor pet poop in – that is, before being thrown out with the regular trash – would go a long ways toward helping the environment.

First, the plastic bags used for this purpose would not end up in a landfill, where they could take years to break down. The need for plastic bag use in this way would become passé.

Next, like most other trash ending up at landfill sites, such waste leads to the release of methane into the air. If piles of the feces never end up there, then this would certainly lessen pressure on the air by not having as much landfill-based methane enter it. Thus, air quality would see some improvement to it, though it may only be by a small amount.

Thirdly, piping pet doo-doo to the municipal water treatment facility for treatment and further processing, to me this sounds like a more environmentally sustainable way of processing the stuff. Who knows?! The treated water could possibly even be reclaimed for watering lawns and such or at least applied to dirt roads at construction sites to control and keep down the dust that typically gets kicked up. And, who would not favor that?!

There has got to be a solution to the pet poop problem other than to scoop up or shovel the you-know-what, transfer it to a plastic bag and then throw it in the trash. If one can be found, it sure would beat what it is we are doing now.

Above and corresponding, connected home-page-featured images: Jpgordon via Wikimedia Commons

Update: Sept. 18, 2023 at 8:39 a.m. PDT.

⁃ Alan Kandel

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