Dog Poop or Plastic
By: Micah Ward
Tags: Dogs, Plastic Pollution, Environment

Which is the greater insult to the Earth?

Photo by Brian Yurasits on Unsplash

I stand in the checkout line at the grocery store, minding my own business when I am confronted with an environmental dilemma.

“Is plastic ok?”

Well, is it? I feel the stink eye from all those who are filling their reusable cloth grocery bags for the good of the earth. I want to scream loud enough for all to hear, “Yes, plastic is ok. Because I use the bags to pick up after my dogs!”

In order to comply with city and county laws I pick up the poop when I walk my dogs. And I use the plastic grocery bags most of the time. The other times I use the plastic bags provided at trail heads or purchased at pet stores. But all that plastic still winds up in landfills where by most estimates it could take 10–1,000 years to degrade. And that’s not even taking into consideration the millions of barrels of oil used in one year of manufacturing the bags. Another insult to the planet.

So, I get the stink eye from my more environmentally astute shoppers. And I get the stink eye if someone sees me not pick up after my dog.

While growing up in the country I never gave dog poop a second thought. It was just something that was always in the yard, in the pasture and around the barn. Yes, we stepped in it both shod and unshod. So what, just wash it off with the water hose and move on.

But now as an adult I read articles that make me never want to be within ten feet of the stuff. Apparently the EPA classifies dog poop in the same category as oil and mine runoff. Dog poop can contain such nasties as giardia, salmonella, Leptospira, E. coli, parvovirus and round worms.

The various sources say that it can take a matter of days or weeks for a pile of poop to dissolve into the soil. But apparently eggs of some of the above named nasties can hang on and be infectious for months. So, having grown up in the country and stepped in poo many times, how is it that I am a healthy adult?

I don’t want to minimize the danger of dog poop nasties but maybe the dangers are a little over hyped. If you don’t get down and roll in it and you practice just normal hygiene and sanitation is dog poop really that big of a health threat? Sure, it can dissolve and the germs get washed into waterways. But isn’t all of our drinking water treated?

It is easy to go online and learn of all the dangers of dog poop and all the diseases it may transmit. I was inundated with information in less than an hour. But, here is what I didn’t find and I welcome anyone to enlighten me.

I can not find the number of diseased individuals each year that are actually attributed to contact with dog poop. Maybe that information is readily available and I am a poor researcher. But, at this point, while I realize it is possible to become infected by poop nasties, I wonder just how often it really happens. Is it that big of a problem?

How big of a problem is plastic waste? The Weather Channel estimates 8.8 million metric tons of plastic waste is washed into the ocean every year. World Wildlife Magazine describes it as a dump truck full every minute. Have you heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? It is, in fact, two swirling patches of floating debris comprised mostly of plastic. One patch lies between Hawaii and Japan and the other between Hawaii and California. Measuring the size of the patches is difficult. But they have been compared to the size of Texas. And with a decomposition rate of 10–1,000 years for plastic that is a serious problem.

The simple answer it would seem is to switch to biodegradable plastic. But even that isn’t as simple as it first sounds. Experiments at Plymouth University in England found that the decomposition rate varies according to how the bag is disposed off and that burying in soil, as is the case with landfills, still leaves the bag intact after three years.

So what is the environmentally conscience dog walker to do? I am not advocating that we cease to scoop the poop. Although, tons of plastic in the ocean bothers me much more than the occasional dog pile.

Photo by Lance Grandahl on Unsplash

I will continue to use the plastic bags (what is the alternative?) and pick up after my dogs. I will pick up if they go in someone’s front yard. I will pick up if they go on the beach or in the middle of the hiking trail. But, if they go off trail in tall grass or bushes where no one walks? I may just let that one be and not contribute another plastic bag to the landfill.

What is the answer? What should we do? What would you do?

“Is plastic ok?”