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Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:19 am |
We have three cats, and I save those plastic grocery bags and reuse them for scooping the cat boxes. They've been great because I can seal them up by knotting them at the top and then just toss them in the trash.
I've just learned that the grocery store where I shop (Whole Foods) is discontinuing the plastic bags. They're encouraging people to use the reuseable cloth shopping bags, and I think they'll also offer paper.
So ... I am now trying to figure out how to manage the whole scooping thing going forward. Of course, I could go to another store and buy a box of small plastic bags, but I suppose I should be trying to move away from these plastic bags, too.
Has anyone else come up with a clever solution? (I use the clumping litter, so flushing it down the toilet isn't an option.) |
_________________ It's vanity, not sanity ... 51; sensitive combo skin with mild rosacea -- my skin loves my Clarisonic, Dr. Mist and Mario Badescu Enzyme Cleansing Gel |
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Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:20 am |
You know, this isn't particularly eco-friendly, but we've found this to be our best option. We use gallon-size Zip Loc bags, and we just throw out each bag once it's filled up. (We have the same kind of clumping litter.) They're nice and strong and sturdy, so they don't break open when we throw our big garbage bag down the chute. (Our caretaker gets LIVID about kitty litter spilling all over the garbage room, understandably!)
I'd love it if we could find a more eco-friendly way, but I haven't come up with one yet. I know they do make some plastic-seeming bags that are actually biodegradable and made of bamboo fiber or something, but I haven't ever seen them for sale. |
_________________ 32, fair hair/eyes/skin, always a mix of dry/oily/sensitive/acne/clogged pores. But I keep getting compliments on my skin, so something must be working! Beauty blog at http://heliotro.pe; online dating coaching at http://theheartographer.com |
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Wed Jan 23, 2008 4:27 pm |
Hi
I use Yesterday's News kitty litter. It's made up of recycled newspapers. When it's time to change the litter I just pour it all into a big black garbage bag. I empty all the other garbages in the house at this time as well and the black garb bag is full. I then put it in the bin. For solid waste, I flush it every day. I have a big litter scoop with large holes so almost all of the litter itself falls off the waste. You can buy 'green' garbage bags in all sizes.
Soiled kitty litter disposal is a tough one if you are being enviro. friendly. This is the best solution, aside from teaching him to use the toilet, that I can think of. |
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Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:56 pm |
The problem is, we're not allowed to dump our kitty's litter straight into a garbage bag, we have to bag it inside the big bag too or else poor George (our building's caretaker) goes berserk! I wonder if they make biodegradable ZipLoc bags anywhere... yet another thing I may have to start searching for! |
_________________ 32, fair hair/eyes/skin, always a mix of dry/oily/sensitive/acne/clogged pores. But I keep getting compliments on my skin, so something must be working! Beauty blog at http://heliotro.pe; online dating coaching at http://theheartographer.com |
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Wed Jan 23, 2008 11:47 pm |
There are lots of eco friendly litters out there...
recycled news (flushable, also mulchable) and also I hear the one from wheat husks (I think it is wheat) is very good.
If you dont mind spending a bit of cash, buy a LitterLocker. Still uses plastic bags, but only 1 per week or two.
http://www.improvementscatalog.com/home/improvements/34925-kitty-litter-disposal.html
If you really want to get eco friendly.. get a CatGenie! Google it, very interesting item!
Failing that.. if you go non-eco.. Ikea sells black plastic poopy-scoopy bags (which is what we use) |
_________________ SKIN: combination, reactive to climate changes and extremely fair. "Women complain about premenstrual syndrome, but I think of it as the only time of the month that I can be myself." --Roseanne |
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Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:44 am |
Thanks for all the good information! I have just ordered the LitterLocker.
I was seriously considering the Cat Genie, until I read a read a review on Amazon.com that is so hilarious, I had to copy it for you to read:
Quote: |
234 of 244 people found the following review helpful:
An expensive way to smell poo, September 18, 2007
By N A "Cat Lover" (Tampa, FL) - See all my reviews
Cat Genie takes the small unpleasantness of daily cleaning the litter and it saves it up and releases that unpleasantness as one big unscheduled, unpleasant inconvenience every week or two. Advanced monitors will ensure that the device failure will occur during the workday, as you prepare for your important meeting with your prospective client. Nothing like cleaning out wet cat poo in your nicest suit. Or, you may be pleasantly awoken in the middle of the night by the repeating three beeps of "there's poo and hair in the hopper." You will become more familiar with your cat's feces every day as the cat genie gently fills your home with the aroma of baking excrement. Plus, you get to pay over $300 for technology that was "designed" and built for less than $2. The "processor" unit was designed in 1967 and allows all the functionality of the most advanced microchip devices of its era. It has both on and off modes. (Note: off mode available only while unplugged.)
Actually, the real reason for the high cost of the device is to cover the costs of all the customer support that they must provide and to cover the costs of all of the returned units. The question is not IF, but WHEN you will find yourself hunched over your cat's feces floating in a pool of fetid water, picking small plastic pellets out of the opaque, pungent water with your fingers so that you can get the device put back together.
And your cats will thank you by depositing their love bundles beside the machine that's half filled with water and beeping away forlornly if you happen to be away when it fails.
We have three cats, they had no trouble adjusting to the machine over about a week. The small plastic pellets getting everywhere in the house is not really any big deal. Roomba takes care of most of them well. We've now had the machine for three months. We received a replacement base last week for a leaky drain hose. We've called their customer service line enough times that we now know the "secret" diagnostic techniques of their experts. We don't know if we're going to keep it or return it. If we keep it, we're definitely going to install an exhaust fan in the laundry room, and set it to a timer to go when the unit is on. For some reason there are little bits of poo that fall between the tines of the hopper, and they get slow baked every time the unit dries itself. The stench is really outstanding. It's hard to describe. I'm a doctor, and I've rarely ever smelled anything so bad.
My recommendation is to wait for the next generation cat sanitation solution. That device will need to be a complete redesign to solve the myriad of problems with this unfortunate device. To say something positive, the customer support line is manned by kind, well-meaning kids who really do feel badly that you're having a hard time with your mechanical poo soup maker.
If you do buy this device, get some thick rubber gloves and a couple of towels that you won't use for anything else.
Comments (30) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)
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-cathy |
_________________ It's vanity, not sanity ... 51; sensitive combo skin with mild rosacea -- my skin loves my Clarisonic, Dr. Mist and Mario Badescu Enzyme Cleansing Gel |
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Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:17 pm |
Interesting... it occurred to me that when grocery stores stop using plastic bags; what'll I use to line the small wastebuckets in the bathroom, bedroom, office and to scoop out my kitty litter? I don't want to have to buy these things.
I'm curious why they aren't electing instead to use plastic bags made from corn or some other vegetable matter that's more biodegradable. I mean, if a tube of lipstick from Cargo can do this, why not offer something similar in our plastic grocery bags? |
_________________ 44 – combo/oily skin with a tendency towards clogged pores. Thanks to EDS, tweaked my skincare routine and normalized skin… no more breakouts. PSF, silk powder, Janson Beckett, Cellbone, NIA24 are staples. |
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Thu Jan 24, 2008 1:08 pm |
athena123 wrote: |
Interesting... it occurred to me that when grocery stores stop using plastic bags; what'll I use to line the small wastebuckets in the bathroom, bedroom, office and to scoop out my kitty litter? I don't want to have to buy these things.
I'm curious why they aren't electing instead to use plastic bags made from corn or some other vegetable matter that's more biodegradable. I mean, if a tube of lipstick from Cargo can do this, why not offer something similar in our plastic grocery bags? |
athena --
that's a good point. I just sent Whole Foods an email from their website to ask them why they didn't choose this option. I expect it was either a cost consideration or something to do with the integrity of biodegrable plastic, but if I get a response from them, I'll post it here. I'm really going to miss my plastic bags
cathy |
_________________ It's vanity, not sanity ... 51; sensitive combo skin with mild rosacea -- my skin loves my Clarisonic, Dr. Mist and Mario Badescu Enzyme Cleansing Gel |
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Thu Jan 24, 2008 1:49 pm |
ginnielizz wrote: |
You know, this isn't particularly eco-friendly, but we've found this to be our best option. We use gallon-size Zip Loc bags, and we just throw out each bag once it's filled up. (We have the same kind of clumping litter.) They're nice and strong and sturdy, so they don't break open when we throw our big garbage bag down the chute. (Our caretaker gets LIVID about kitty litter spilling all over the garbage room, understandably!)
I'd love it if we could find a more eco-friendly way, but I haven't come up with one yet. I know they do make some plastic-seeming bags that are actually biodegradable and made of bamboo fiber or something, but I haven't ever seen them for sale. |
I would love to find some bags like that, too, Ginny. The LitterLocker device that I ordered still uses plastic, but I think, less of it.
From searching around I've also learned that clay litter is not the most environmentally friendly thing, either (as it is harvested by strip mining) but I've found that litters that come in either pellets or pearls are very hazardous when one has bare wood floors -- it's like having big pieces of gravel underfoot -- and causes @#%%!!! to come out of my mouth when my poor foot encounters a piece that's been kicked out of the box. So, at least for now, I'm sticking with the clumping litter. |
_________________ It's vanity, not sanity ... 51; sensitive combo skin with mild rosacea -- my skin loves my Clarisonic, Dr. Mist and Mario Badescu Enzyme Cleansing Gel |
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Thu Jan 24, 2008 2:12 pm |
athena123 wrote: |
Interesting... it occurred to me that when grocery stores stop using plastic bags; what'll I use to line the small wastebuckets in the bathroom, bedroom, office and to scoop out my kitty litter? I don't want to have to buy these things.
I'm curious why they aren't electing instead to use plastic bags made from corn or some other vegetable matter that's more biodegradable. I mean, if a tube of lipstick from Cargo can do this, why not offer something similar in our plastic grocery bags? |
THANK YOU! Please do post if you get a reply from Whole Foods, CJ. I know plastic isn't biodegradable, but sometimes there's a reason paper bags suck. (One of my ways of reducing my carbon footprint is to walk instead of driving for as many errands as possible, since I live in a neighborhood that makes this possible. And I live in SEATTLE. Ever tried carrying groceries home in a paper bag during a rain storm? You don't get very far.)
Besides, all the trees getting chopped down to make those paper bags isn't that eco-friendly. I'm telling you, BAMBOO! It's the new everything! We used to have some growing at my old house when I was a kid, and you could literally measure it having grown a foot in a day. It was awesome to "document" when I was a kid, haha. A nerdy kid, yes.
But seriously, bamboo is SO fast to regenerate, I just can't understand why Whole Foods (and EVERY OTHER STORE OUT THERE) hasn't made the switch. The bags I've used that are "plastic" bamboo bags are durable, water-resistant, and biodegradable. They feel almost exactly like a normal plastic bag. I wish I still had the example one so I could look and see if they have a website or something! I might actually go so far as to call the store I know gave it to me (it's out of town) and see if they can tell me their supplier. Hell, I don't have a job, why not!? I'll keep you guys posted. |
_________________ 32, fair hair/eyes/skin, always a mix of dry/oily/sensitive/acne/clogged pores. But I keep getting compliments on my skin, so something must be working! Beauty blog at http://heliotro.pe; online dating coaching at http://theheartographer.com |
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Thu Jan 24, 2008 3:20 pm |
Ooh, I LOVE bamboo textiles! Had no idea bamboo was a component in biodegradable plastic as well! That would be even better than corn, I think. Heard somewhere that there's a food shortage because food supplies are being redirected to energy use instead. I don't know that that's the case, but who eats bamboo? Except for pandas, that is! |
_________________ 44 – combo/oily skin with a tendency towards clogged pores. Thanks to EDS, tweaked my skincare routine and normalized skin… no more breakouts. PSF, silk powder, Janson Beckett, Cellbone, NIA24 are staples. |
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Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:39 am |
Just to retur to the original problem here, but I hardly ever throw away all the litter. I use a good clumping clay litter (EverClean less track) and use these small dog poop bags to throw away the clumps in, and just refill with more sand. I never change the rest of the stuff as long as it is clean and not smelly, but I do wash the tray.
BTW, I hardly ever get platic bags shopping anymore, I use cloth bags. I just buy some eco-friendly plastic bags for trash etc. No problem really. |
_________________ Live in Switzerland, age 32, dehydrated combination skin, sensitive to climate changes, some food and cosmetic products. Very fair. |
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Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:19 pm |
I use feline pine so I don't have this problem. My neighbor uses biodegradable bags for picking up doggie poops. Maybe this is an option for you if you want to go green?
I think it is something like this
http://www.ecoanimal.com/poopbags.html
I have started bringing my own canvas bags when I go grocery shopping. I am very proud of myself, but I still use those supermarket plastic bags to line my little trashcans. Don't know what I will do when I run out...... |
_________________ ~~ super-sensitive, dry, dermatitis prone, rosacea/northern calif ~~ |
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