But I use the bags for my pet's...

Originally published Feb 24, 2013

You have a dog.  It goes to the bathroom.  You pick up the poop with the free plastic bag that you get when you buy groceries.  I get that.  But even though you reuse those bags once they still end up in a landfill, buried in the dark, taking a long time to decompose around the perfectly decomposable dog and cat stuff.  A few thoughts to rock your dog (or cat or hamster) world:

Reuse all the other bags you get instead. Bread, bagels, donuts, vegetables, frozen foods, used ziploc bags...have you NOTICED what you throw away?  Get one of these handy bag holders, put it on your cabinet drawer and start collecting. Or if you're handy, sew a holder yourself. And what about the big dog or cat food bag itself?  Put that in a small trash can in the garage or outside and scoop all things smelly into there with a plastic cat crap scooper. Then you're just using ONE big old bag you already have anyway that you'll be throwing away. 

Another thought: BUY some compostable dog bags.  Yes, buy.  Because as California goes, so goes the nation - just slowly and kicking its feet - so you might as well get used to it.  In many cities in California you have to BUY a plastic bag at a hefty price if you forget your reusable. Google this company's products and you'll find a plethora of places selling them: biobag 

And finally: the very cheapest thing to do: start a secret compost hole and then use pet waste for flower gardens and your lawn (not your vegetable garden because of possible bacteria).  Even if your subdivision bans anything that makes sense like gardens and compost piles, you can still dig a hole behind a bush, dump all the crap there, and keep it covered with a green or brown trash lid inverted with mulch on it.  And the cat litter?  It's just clay or silica or other BETTER tremendously earth-friendly stuff.  Put it in the hole to return it to the earth it came from.  Here's a great article on an even better way to create one:"Can I compost pet waste?" from Colleen Vanderlinden in About.com.

So, forget the bags at the grocery store and get some CRESBI crates for your groceries, there are plenty of other excellent alternatives for all the crap in your life that your little buddies deal out.