What are the most environmentally friendly poop bags?
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05-11-2021
We have been using biodegradable poop bags for years. With all our own dogs, guests and of course the dogs being walked, the rolls fly through. With an eye for the environment, we assumed that it would be better to use biodegradable bags. Until we received signals that these are not that much better for the environment. Reason enough for us to delve deeper into this. You can read the results below.
There is a difference between the types of bioplastic:
Bioplastic:
Also called biobased. This is made from natural raw materials such as corn, potato or sugar cane.
Biodegradable plastic:
Also called compostable (oxo-degradable is also included). Some are biodegradable, but most forms are only biodegradable in an industrial facility. By law, this type of plastic must be fully degraded within a maximum period of 6 months.
Interesting fact; not all bioplastic is biodegradable and not all biodegradable plastic is made from bioplastic.
Why is it not as environmentally friendly as we thought?
- the production of bioplastic has an impact on the environment because the raw materials (corn/sugar cane) require a lot of land, water, energy, pesticides and fertilizers;
- it remains Single Use Plastic. Most packaging is intended for single use. Looking at the production and the necessary requirements to break it down, this form of SUP is also not environmentally friendly;
- it needs specific controlled conditions to be fully compostable. In the ocean, where the temperature is low, there is not enough oxygen and too little sunlight, bioplastic hardly decomposes according to a study by the United Nations (2015). In addition, bags look the same to the animals living in the water, whether they are made of bioplastic or regular plastic (with all the consequences);
- in the Netherlands, biodegradable plastic may not be thrown away with the GFT waste. This is because a special installation is required. In this installation, it should be stored for a period of 12 weeks at a temperature of up to 65°C and at a high humidity. However, in our country it is often only processed for up to 5 weeks, which is too short to be able to break down completely;
- because it is difficult to distinguish all the different types of plastic from each other, it often happens that all kinds of plastic end up together in the GFT. Composting companies therefore remove all plastic, both regular and biodegradable. And also due to ignorance, bioplastic can end up in the plastic recycling container. But this can then disrupt the recycling of regular plastic, because the composition is different.
In terms of waste processing, bioplastics offer little environmental benefit, because in the end they are simply burned in the oven. What would help enormously is to recycle them. But at the moment, the share of bioplastics in the Netherlands is too small to be able to do this cost-effectively. And besides, dog and cat poop always belongs in the residual waste anyway and not in the GFT, because of the presence of parasites, bacteria and other pathogens.
The most environmentally friendly would be to use reusable plastic, for example a poop scoop. And then throw the poop in the residual waste. But let's be honest, this is not really practical for most people... I can see Joe going through the dunes with a bucket :-)
If we look at the production process, bioplastic is better than regular plastic because it produces less greenhouse gas. But it also requires a lot of land and energy to produce all the crops (which can no longer be used for consumption) and pesticides are used.
So it's not that easy to draw a conclusion. The developments and technology are not yet so far along that we can pick up our dog poop completely sustainably. Although in the UK they have developed a street light that is powered by dog poop. How cool is that?! Netherlands come on!
Until then, we at Dogguardian.nl have decided to offer both options. Want to see them? Click here .
Source:
https://www.plasticsoupfoundation.org
https://www.greenpeace.org
https://www.milieucentraal.nl
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/01/stools-to-fuels-street-lamp-runs-on-dog-poo-bio-energy-waste-
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