Dog Poo Composter

[Monkey Orchid]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

I saw somewhere cant remember where they sell flushable dog poo bags just pick it up and flush it away.
easy no waste and environmentally friendly

Errmm... Doesn't it just end up in the water/sewage system and have to be dealt with there, though? The Dog Waste Digester sounds like a better option, ecologically.

I used to work in an urban park/local nature reserve, and the amount of dog faeces deposited there was phenomenal. Many local dog owners seemed to have the attitude that because the park was a public space, it was OK for them to bring their pets there to evacuate their bowels and leave it for others to deal with. Seems kind of selfish and irresponsible to me. I love dogs, but boy did I get sick of treading in the stuff... And every time we had a group of school kids in studying nature, half of them would either step in it or fall in it at some point during the day. Bleghh.

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by Monkey Orchid

Errmm... Doesn't it just end up in the water/sewage system and have to be dealt with there, though? The Dog Waste Digester sounds like a better option, ecologically.

I used to work in an urban park/local nature reserve, and the amount of dog faeces deposited there was phenomenal. Many local dog owners seemed to have the attitude that because the park was a public space, it was OK for them to bring their pets there to evacuate their bowels and leave it for others to deal with. Seems kind of selfish and irresponsible to me. I love dogs, but boy did I get sick of treading in the stuff... And every time we had a group of school kids in studying nature, half of them would either step in it or fall in it at some point during the day. Bleghh.

Well yes but the bags are designed to degrade like loo roll..
the link on this page said you can flush it down the loo.

there is no easy answer but I am worried about the "bio-activator" I don't like using chemicals in the garden.

[Monkey Orchid]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

I am worried about the "bio-activator" I don't like using chemicals in the garden.

I suppose that everything is a 'chemical' of some sort or another, even natural/organic products such as seaweed solution. Urine is a 'bio-activator' for composting things, as are solutions made from comfrey or nettle leaves and water. They simply accelerate the composting process, which is what I assume this 'bio activator' for the dog poo digester does. Like you I prefer not to use man-made/industrially-produced chemicals in my garden, but without knowing exactly what the constituents of this particular bio activator solution are it's hard to make a judgement.

I take your point about the flushable bags being bio-degradable; I was thinking more along the lines that putting anything extra into our sewage/water system is not great, given how much treatment it requires to then produce drinkable water again. It's bad enough that we use gallons of drinkable water to flush our own 'solid waste' away (sorry to be so graphic!), never mind adding our pets' waste products into the mix. Not only is water a scarce resource, but treating and pumping our domestic water supplies requires a huge amount of energy... So the less we are able to use the better.

[Monkey Orchid]

Been looking into these dog waste digester systems, found a useful website showing how to make your own:

Pet Waste Composting

The special bio-activator solution that most websites recommend for dog waste composting does seem on the pricey side. From the info I can glean off the Internet, it seems to be an enzyme-based solution. On the 'make-your-own-dog-waste-digester' website it suggests using Septo-bac which is a live bacteria/enzyme product used in septic tanks to speed up digestion of wastes. I can't find on the Internet where to buy this in the UK, but similar products do seem to exist:
Septic tank treatment product, Bacteria & Enzymes

Hope some of this is helpful to folks!

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by Gelert

Has anyone used one of these? It's a wormery specifically for compostong dog xexexexexe..... I don't want to spend money on something if it doesn't really work but it's be great to find a viable alternative to bagging the stuff....

Rescue your garden from dog droppings

Dog Poo Mega Tower - Pet waste wormery composting on eBay, also Composting, Hand Tools Equipment, Garden Plants, Home Garden (end time 17-Apr-09 20:13:05 BST)

Faeces, particularly from animals with short transit alimentary systems (carnivors, and some omnivors), particularly when dealt with in bulk, needs to be treated as 'hazardous waste'. Humans in developed countries have settled on water mediated sewerage systems as the safest way to handle that waste and as a health protection measure it is difficult to beat. Monkey Orchid makes some valid points about the 'cost' of water mediated sewerage, but given the availability of the system the flushable bag option for pet waste seems the safest and to the user, relatively low cost.

Water based systems that allow flow that may affect groundwater seem paticularly vulnerable to failure of containment. The most obvious health risk is from the persistence of parasite eggs in the soil or ground water - in the case of dogs, Toxocara canis is particularly dangerous to children and babies in the womb. The eggs can last for up to six years in favourable conditions and are resistent to many climate conditions with the exception of desication. On that basis I'd see the water based digester as a source of problems - certainly where the location is over a high watertable or that is liable to flood.

Prior to the popularity of the flushable toilet in the 19thC, there was some devlopment in the use of the 'earth closet' - On-line: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY and it's possible that a 'dry system' for dealing with pet waste would be a safer and cheaper alternative than a water based digester. The key thing would be to ensure the system remained closed apart from aeration and that the final product was desicated prior to distribution in an open environment: Survival of Fecal Coliforms in Dry-Composting Toilets

Personally I'd regard any non working domestic animal as a pollution source and would avoid it's acquisition in the first place.

CM

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by Graham Barker

i would love to shove the dog owner

<Good health rant reluctantly snipped!>

these people are so poorly ignorant and mentally challanged they are a disgrace to the human race....

Bang on Graham - I'm right with you there!

Jim

[Gelert]

Originally Posted by Cotham Marble

Personally I'd regard any non working domestic animal as a pollution source and would avoid it's acquisition in the first place.

CM

Well my dogs are working dogs so don't fall into your category do they?

As for Graham Barker's comments - I think it's a shame when a thread about the responsible disposal of dog xexexexe gets hijacked by people with nothing better to do than make negative and irrelevant comments just to vent their own spleen - which I personally regard as a polution source and wish people would take responsibility for instead of dumping on a forum.

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by Gelert

Well my dogs are working dogs so don't fall into your category do they?

As for Graham Barker's comments - I think it's a shame when a thread about the responsible disposal of dog xexexexe gets hijacked by people with nothing better to do than make negative and irrelevant comments just to vent their own spleen - which I personally regard as a polution source and wish people would take responsibility for instead of dumping on a forum.

Well said Gelert...

I ride above comments like this..

[shirl]

My dogs are working dogs too (english springer spaniels) and I would never leave poo for someone else to stand on it. We live in a popular tourist area and loads of people walk on our lane (it's also a public footpath), our garden is open and we get dogs on our lawn fouling all over the place. It's not the dogs it's the owners who are the problem. As I don't see it happening I just go and clear it up - collecting neighbours cat poo on the way. Might check this wormery thing out, could be a good solution for disposal.

Shirl

[Garden Carpet]

well, my dogs are pets... and unless you count their various functions, companion, barker, greeter, love-their-mum as work, dont work... and they are no more polluting than the average human... in fact.. now I think of it.. far less.

I cant believe I feel the need to justify their existance on this or any other forum.

If you dont like dogs.. fair enough... you are missing out on something wonderful but dont make them out to be polluting parasites!

jaki