How to Reduce Your Dog's Ecological Footprint
7 easy things you can do right now
1. Make the switch once and for all to biodegradable dog poo bags. What are you waiting for? scoopies.com
2. Order ecologically sound dog beds and organic, pesticide free dog food from olivegreendog.com or greedogpetsupply.com, sites specializing in environmentally friendly pet supplies.
3. Go natural — make your own natural flea spray and deodorizer. Goodbye chemicals!
4. Eat locally. Search out a dog cookie company making and baking locally.
5. Banish the plastic bag. Buy a reusable canvas shopping bag for trips to the grocer and the pet food store.
6. Consider durability when purchasing dog toys. Better to buy one high-priced, puncture-proof toy than dozens of a cheaper variety that won¹t last past a few good play sessions.
7. Put away the plastic wrap and tin foil and instead cover that half-empty can of dog food with a reusable, snap-on plastic lid. torudog.com.
we do all this plus we hose instead of pick up - that way we getting rid of it at the source (ha ha) and watering the lawn at the same time - no mess, no flies, no worries - we five labs you have to definitely think ahead....
The firm I work at, TLC Pet Food is very supportive of environmentally positive policies. Their motto is "Reducing the Environmental Pawprint", which means they use only recyclable packaging, and use post-consumer fiber for all their shipping cartons, as well as buying local ingredients and maintaining low-energy business practices. Check them out at http://www.tlcpetfood.com/
I've also found some promotional codes that people can use to get discounts. If you enter the code 18660-1025 at www.tlcpetfood.com you get $5 off your first order, and code 18660-1525 for a free 5 lb box of dog biscuits.
Scoopies dog poop bags are not biodegradable. Only those plastics that meet the ASTM 6400-99 specification can really claim to be biodegradable. Scoopies call their product OXO-biodegradable...states like California do not recognize this as biodegradation and prohibit companies, such as Scoopies, from labelling their products as such.
It is unfortunate that consumers are being mislead. The Biodegradable Products Institute has a great deal of information on what actually constitutes biodegradability. see: www.bpiworld.org
This is a response to Ian's message regarding the biodegradability of Scoopies. What is unfortunate is that people are making claims against products without proper information. Scoopies are 100% biodegradable and meet ASTM standard D6954-04. We absolutely do not mislead anyone and have seen the product break down before our own eyes.
Each state will have its own standards. To put is simply, it takes more time to set up standards and tests than it does to create a new technology. The California standard may only apply to a certain type of degradation and not another. This does not mean that the others are not degradable, they just don't have a specific standard for it yet.
To read more from both ASTM and Biodeg.org you can visit www.scoopies.com and click on the d2w logo.
Scoopies does not publicly discredit the products of others and it is a shame to read that others have no problem doing so.
It is not surprising that the BPI is attacking oxo-biodegradable products, as this is what they are paid to do by the starch-based plastic manufacturers. They are using ASTM 6400 to push oxo-bio out of the market because they know it is a better product, and they have so far managed to confuse the California legislators.
The Trade Association for oxo-biodegradable products is the OPA (have a look at their website www.biodeg.org, where you will see that the BPI has nothing like the scientific expertise as the OPA)
Compostability of plastics according to ASTM 6400 is an irrelevance because compostable plastics are far too expensive for everyday use, and there are very few industrial composting facilities. Also, as it is difficult and expensive to separate compostable plastics from other plastics, industrial composters do not want plastic of any kind in their feedstock. Home composting of plastic packaging is dangerous and should not be encouraged, as it is often contaminated with meat, fish, or poultry residues, and temperatures do not rise high enough to kill the pathogens.
Recycled plastics are OK, but they are not degradable and will still lie around in the environment for decades. However, ordinary plastic and recycled plastic can now be made oxo-biodegradable.
This is done by including d2w additive (see www.degradable.net) which makes it degrade, then biodegrade, on land or at sea, in the light or the dark, in heat or cold, in whatever timescale is required, leaving NO fragments NO methane and NO harmful residues. Oxo-bio passes the tests in American Standard 6954, and is made from a by-product of oil refining which used to be wasted, so nobody is importing extra oil to make it.
There is little or no additional cost.
Plastics made from crops, are up to 400% more expensive, they are not strong enough for use in high-speed machinery, and they emit methane (a powerful greenhouse gas) in landfill. Also, it is wrong to use land, water and fertilisers to grow crops for bioplastics and biofuels, which drives up the cost of food for the poorest people. See The Guardian 26th April 2008 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/26/waste.pollution?gusrc=...
The same applies to growing cotton or jute to make durable bags. These rapidly become unhygienic if a tomato is squashed or milk is spilled, and become a durable form of litter, but they can be made from washable oxo-bio plastic to last up to 5 years.
Oxo-bio plastics degrade in the upper layers of a landfill, but they are completely inert deeper in the landfill in the absence of oxygen. They do not emit methane at any stage.
Paper bags use 300% more energy to produce, they are bulky and heavy and are not strong enough. They will also emit methane in landfill
Questioning the legitimacy of oxo-biodegradability claims is not sole domain of groups like the BPI. One such group is the, Californians Against Waste, possibly the nation's oldest, largest and most effective non-profit environmental organization advocating for the implementation of waste reduction and recycling policies and programs. This group, along with PLASTICS industry groups like, California Film Extruders & Converters and the Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees have come out in support of legislation aimed at prohibiting the marketing any plastic as "biodegradable" for which no ASTM standard specificaton exists"...as is the case for oxo-biodegradable. In the case of plastic bags, the supported specification is the ASTM6400-99.
In addition, other jurisdictions have already weighed in on the issue. For example, in Italy, a company using the same oxo-biodegradable additive (EPI) as Scoopies, was sanctioned for it's mis-leading claims. That same case highlighted the fact that the bag-maker had the bags put through an independent biodegradability test which were negative for percentage of biodegradability acheived (COOP 2004)…and then went to make their claims anyway.
Oxo-biodegradable bags are usually 98% petroleum based Polyethylene... a non-sustainable or renewable source. The oxidative additive contains heavy metals. The makers claim that their product will degrade (oxidation) in landfills...a place designed to be devoid of oxygen!
Finally, to attempt to suggest that the Biodegradable Products Institute doesn't have the scientific chops to weigh in on this matter is laughable. Rather than being a "trade group" like the Oxo's, OPA, the BPI draws upon a broad spectrum of academics, government agencies and scientists from many industries and specialties.
One academic, a professor of Chemical Engineering and Biochemical Engineering at Michigan State University, has reviewed test data, which purports to prove that oxo-biodegradable bags were biodegradable. His findings were that these claims were patently false.
Landfills are, and should be specifically excluded as a disposal point for biodegradable products because the current EPA specified landfills are designed to PREVENT biodegradation, and even in these landfills, the biodegradation that does occur is uncontrolled, resulting in unwanted methane gas (that is flared), which is a potent global warming gas. There is no positive environmental or economic value to designing products to be biodegradable and then allow them to end up in landfills.
...just a quick note. I mistakenly attributed the source of Scoopies oxo-biodegradable additive as EPI, rather than the correct d2W.
Also thought this was a great commentary on the status of the debate from a "green" plastics pioneer... from: http://biopol.free.fr/?p=50
As someone who has spent over 40 years in the plastics industry and 20 years in the specific area of degradable plastics- both UV “degradable” in the early 1990’s and then as a founder member of Natureworks llc PLA compostable products and the more recent formation of Jim lunt & Associates. LLC.; I must comment that it is exactly this type of article that not only appears to be factually incorrect but also adds to the increasing confusion by consumers.
Oxo degradable technology, whereby an additive is used to accelerate free radical “degradation” of plastics, has been around since the 1980’s and in fact the claims being made even then, were challenged as misleading and these products were subsequently removed from the marketplace.
Now with the public awareness of depletion of non renewable resources, filling up of Landfill space and the increasing concern over potential health issues associated with certain monomers in oil based plastics, we see this same technology once again being re introduced as a viable answer to some of these societal issues.
Your opening paragraph sums up the perpetuation of misconception, presumably due to ignorance on the part of the company launching these materials.
MONTREAL - ECO II Manufacturing is proud to announce the launching of a very new line of bags which are 100% oxo-biodegradable. The main quality of these products is that they are totally degradable in less than 2 years at a temperature of 45-C, which is the average temperature of landfills, in accordance with ASTM D6954-04. In ideal landfill conditions, these products disintegrate in as little as 12 weeks. The ordinary plastic bag, takes over 400 years.
Firstly, Oxo degradable – suggests degradation in the presence of oxygen. It is true that polyolefin’s such a PP and PE will fragment in the presence of oxygen and sunlight when the stabilizers added to the material to prevent such degradation have lost their efficacy. It is also true that some additives such as heavy metals and other materials, will accelerate this fragmentation. However, such fragmentation has repeatedly been shown to be purely due to breakage of the polymer chains. There has been no reputable evidence that microorganisms are involved in any of this degradation either in a aerobic compost or a anaerobic managed landfill environment . There is also no reputable evidence that these polymer fragments are attacked by microorganisms. There is actually no bona fide published evidence that in a sealed landfill, or municipal composting that these products containing such additives will degrade to simple biologically assimilative or their direct energy recovery components .
I find it surprising that this type of fragmentation is one again being associated with biodegradation- which is degradation of a plastic due to the action of microorganisms –either in aerobic or anaerobic conditions. I see claims being made once again with no supporting evidence.
I, along with many consumers and I believe, the whole emerging biodegradable /biobased plastics industry, would really appreciate seeing definitive supporting evidence that these products truly are attacked by micro organisms and actually do degrade into the basic components of carbon dioxide, water or methane in controlled and defined timescales.
Today the only accepted definitions of degradability accepted universally, are that the plastics degrade to give either carbon dioxide and water in aerobic conditions, or methane gas under managed anaerobic landfill conditions, constructed to create reusable energy.
Is such information available and will the company provide such information so its claims can be substantiated by the regulatory organizations who protect the public interest to understand the true facts?
I look forward to reading a future article with supporting evidence to the claims being made or at least an acknowledgement that this evidence is necessary for the consumer to really know what is the best choice to make
My best regards. Dr. Jim Lunt (Jim Lunt & Associates LLC)
So which poop bags are the ones to get? Scoopies, or a corn based bag?
Check out http://www.elmhirstpackaging.ca/store.html. We've got biodegradable and compostable dog waste bags and you can buy 100 for $4.43 or 700 for only $29. It's significantly less than the competitors and the reason I started selling them was because I was tired of getting ripped off and if they're more affordable more people will use them reducing the damage we do to the environment so please check us out.
-Peter
Whoa so much comments
I just have to say that even though im young, my parents leave the dog responsibilities to me; I do use bio degradable bags, buy organic dog food, and make dog treats. Great to know of some more ways to help ol' planet earth here :)
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