Zero Waste Challenge: Week 23 — Pets and Waste
I have a dog named Ziggy, who has been a part of our lives for over 14 years now. My family and I love him like crazy. I can’t imagine a day without him.
Yet, as we have ventured further upon this zero waste journey, it becomes increasingly apparent how much waste is generated by owning a pet.
Of our total waste, the amount that comes from owning a pet is significant.
- Weekly dog waste bags (we do use BPI-certified compostable bags for pick-up)
- Food bags (about once a month, we throw away a large plastic 15lbs. food bag)
- Treat (nearly all come in a plastic bag)
- Medicine (he’s an older dog with some ailments, and his daily medicine comes in plastic sleeves)
Because of his age and sensitive digestive system, we are stuck using a particular brand of food. We’ve tried deviating before, but we pay the price via increased outside visits.
We have considered converting to a raw-diet for him and purchasing it from a local pet store that creates customized free meals for your pets, but again it is too late to convert his diet at this point.
The medicine problem could be remedied — his vet provides it in a plastic orange prescription tube without the individually sealed package we have delivered. It is more expensive, and it requires driving nearly 45 minutes roundtrip once a month. At this point, we’re falling on the side of convenience with the delivered option.
All that said, we know that we are certainly conscious of our efforts to minimize waste and attempt to choose our options carefully when purchasing pet products.
While it’s easy to view these problems as pet-specific, it’s a systemic problem that translates to nearly all products in our lives.
The next time you’re at the grocery store, look at the shelves carefully and take in how many products have some sense of plastic packaging. Whether it’s all in plastic, a plastic-see-through window amidst the cardboard, a plastic bag inside a box, plastic wrap around the top of a jar, etc., you’ll be amazed at the waste.
Virtually all of that plastic ends up in the trash, then a landfill or an incinerator.
And at this point, very few have an answer for what alternatives there are.
So at the end of the day, we will continue to have and love our dog. We are dog people and will very likely always have a dog as a pet in our house. We have to learn how to try and adapt to a minimizing waste solution that is complimentary to owning a pet.
Here are our totals for the week, rounded up to the nearest 25%. (Now skewed with a small cart)
Trash: 25% (Including a bag of dog food)
Organics: 25%
Recycling 1: 75%
Recycling 2: 25%
Extra: None
