Poop bags save the planet

Imagine an archeologist in the year 2800 examining the Poway landfill. What will he make of the thousands of little blue bags filled with dog waste, carefully knotted and preserved for all time? He’ll probably decide that cultures from an earlier century worshipped dog feces, and therefore, he might conclude, those people must also have worshipped the dogs the dogs that created it. He would be right.

Picture this ritual from the dog’s point of view. As soon as he drops his “duty,” his devoted follower, the owner, falls to his knees and reverently scoops up the poop, carefully packages it in colorful wrapping and carries it home. The owner then deposits the package in a large urn that he always keeps near the house. Well, by gosh, Rover says to himself, that stuff is sacred!

Rather than lead our heirs astray, several companies have created biodegradable poop pickup bags, and I encountered my first sample at a pet sit this morning. Made with a cornstarch base, the green-colored bags will decompose and allow their contents to decompose too.

What a concept! In this day and age, when “eco-friendly,” “green,” “sustainable,” “recycling,” and all those buzzwords hold great sway with the public, now dog owners can do their part. No more must dog waste be preserved forever in our landfills.

So, I figured, here I am using plastic grocery and newspaper bags to clean up dog waste. That’s as bad as the blue baggies. I’m inadvertently contributing to the destruction of our planet. This is a no-brainer, an easy fix. We must do something about this situation.

The Cat contribution to the problem

But wait. What do all my pet sitting clients use to clean their litter boxes? Nowhere have I ever seen a biodegradable bag for disposing of litter box contents. Everyone uses wastebasket liners or grocery bags.

I think I’m on to something here. I’m going to invent a biodegradable litter bag. It’s time for cat owners to unite to save the world, and spare that poor archeologist of the future a lot of confusion.

Grocery bags

This entire train of thought made me look at the issue from the opposite direction. Why aren’t grocery bags biodegradable?  That would solve everything.

When I’m walking dogs, I think about these things… 

© 2010 Terry Albert. All Rights Reserved.