Joanne's Day: Dog Waste Bags For Gracie...
This blog entry is dedicated to our new friend, Gracie! Our neighbor, Josh, realized that being a responsible recycler extended into the area of the bags used for picking up after Gracie. Since we are not pet owners, I never thought about it so I did a little research. I found several good websites (listed below) that offer biodegradable poop bags and cat box liners. Picking up after your pet is part of being a responsible pet owner. In many communities, it’s also the law. Since plastic bags can take over 100 years to decompose, it just makes sense to use an earth-friendly product. The best solution for disposal of pet waste has always been to separate it from the bag or paper and flush it down the toilet. Using biodegradable bags extends your options. The waste and the bag can be thrown in your backyard compost, where both items can decompose naturally; the waste and bag can be buried, where micro-organisms will quickly eat both; the waste and bag can be set at curbside with other yard waste where communities collect biodegradable waste for composting. Check with your community for disposal options. Various plastic bag manufacturers probably use the term "biodegradability" - shall we say - loosely and lightly. The ASTM D6400 specification puts a kabosh on all of that. Basically, the specification requires that the material is fully tested to ensure that it will degrade at a similar rate as an apple, and that no large plastic fragments should remain.More than likely, the loose and light manufacturers' bags do not meet biodegradable standards of any sort, and are just regular plastic bags. All in all, bag manufacturers - who claim their bags are biodegradable but do not meet the ASTM D6400 specification - are misleading consumers and are acting negligently towards the environment.California’s law, SB 1749, maintains that bags should meet the ASTM D6400 specification for biodegradable product claims. Several other states are also instituting policies like California....
