Never let it be said that we shy away from unpleasant topics here at greeninoakpark.com. When last we discussed greener solutions for pet waste, your humble author was at a loss as to the best way to deal with dog poop, but she seems to have found a reasonable option for now, and that’s the dog waste bags from poopbags.com.
They’re much better than plastic bags from the grocery store. Why? For one thing, they’re the right size, they’re thicker, and if you put the bags in a covered garbage can outside and then put that in with the garbage, there’s a lot less stink involved than with plastic grocery store bags. In our household, that’s the only reason to have plastic grocery bags at all, given that we have plenty of reusable bags, so hooray for decreased usage of plastic bags. For another, they’ll biodegrade eventually, and plastic bags won’t. They also are corn-based, and Maria of Green Home Experts here in Oak Park says that the more popular Bio Bags are petroleum-based. That might explain why they didn’t work out in the doggie dooley. (09/25/2010 correction: as you can see in the comment below, I must have misunderstood Maria, and BioBags are NOT petroleum-based. Oops, my mistake!)
Even better, they’re produced locally in Chicago.
Whether these will work in the doggie dooley remains to be seen, but the folks at poopbags.com seem to think so. I’ll certainly report back on that. You can get them online and at other various local locations, but if you’re in Oak Park, you can get them at Sirius Cooks on Harrison. Love that store.
Amy,
Thanks for another great post. Pet waste is difficult for even the most dedicated composters. The Doggie Dooley is a great invention but isn’t really suited for our climate. It just doesn’t get warm enough for a long enough period of time here. That’s why it isn’t as successful for us Midwesterners!
We actually love the BioBag line and proudly sell them at Green Home Experts. They are not petro-based and are a great alternative to plastic bags. We also love PoopBags.com and our friends at Sirius Cooks! Did I ever tell you I met your wonderful husband while shopping there? If memory serves me correctly, you were in the middle of preserving blueberries that day.
Keep up the great blog. I love it!
Maria
Uh oh, I’m sorry I misquoted you! I think it was that same conversation with my husband that I was referring to, so there must have been a misunderstanding. I’ll correct it; thanks for letting me know.