This alone is bad enough but add in to the equation a small child and a dog that likes to chase a ball; you have entered dog walking hell! Do you: First, there’s a much higher concentration of dogs than wild animals in the U.S. With over 48 million dogs nationwide, each making one-to-three deposits per day, that’s a lot of poop. Whether you live in a population-dense city or a small town, unbagged dog poop is a major source of water pollution. Every time it rains or snows, abandoned dog poop is washed into the storm drains, contaminating local waterways. Reusable poo bags - Yes they are a thing! However, these are best for people who can take their dog's poop home to compost it. Consider where your daily walks take you. If you and your dog rarely venture beyond your neighborhood, flushable bags are a great choice. For longer hikes, choose scented bags that prevent odors from seeping out during all-day adventures. Oyster shells are sustainable - don't rely on GMOs, deforestation, competition with human food production or chemicals (e.g. fertilisers, pesticides, etc) or fossil fuel guzzling machinery

I realised this wasn’t a problem only I suffered, when one day sitting in car after walking my dog I saw 4 other people go through the almost identical ritual I had done 1 hour earlier. Recycled poo bags - for people who may not have the time or organisational skills to collect non-recyclable waste! And for those people who dispose of dog waste via general waste. Lizzie Carr, founder of Planet Patrol, the waste data and collection charity, said: “As a paddle boarder I have come across countless dog poo bags carelessly thrown into bushes, lurking on the edges of riverbanks, hung on fences or simply left on the ground.”

Foxes in the Scottish Highlands eat an 'unprecedented' amount of dog poo

Comprehensive dog poo data is fairly thin on the ground, making it difficult to monitor trends with much precision. There is a growing consensus that problem is getting worse again, however. Of course, the best way to avoid this from happening is to ensure your dog doesn't get the “runs” by feeding them a well-balanced and correct diet. But, dogs do get upset tummies from time to time no matter how careful you are and the best way to scoop their loose “doings” up is to cover it with loose dirt or sand before scooping it up into a bag. There’s not a one-size-fits-all for training, and a dog’s needs will vary depending on a number of factors. In towns and in some areas of the countryside along trails that are often used by dog owners, there are bins which are there specifically for any bagged dog poo to be put in. If possible, using biodegradable bags to scoop up your dog's business, all the better because using them is far better for the environment. Almost all dog owners will talk about the joy dogs bring to their lives. Not only the companionship and intelligent company that dogs offer, but also the pleasure of daily dog walks. As you exercise your dog (see our favourite dog ball throwers here), you are keeping yourself fit too and there is a huge pleasure in walking familiar routes as well as discovering new places together. Being a responsible dog owner

But you're a responsible dog owner who wants to do what they can for the environment and you realise that your poo bag usage is a big contributor to your dog's environmental pawprint. After considering the above, we decided to make our poo bags from 20% oyster shell waste, 50% recycled plastic and up to 30% virgin plastic. So instead of making new plastic that contributes to landfill or incineration, we re-use waste (plastic and oyster shells) that was already destined to end up there. In this way, they do genuinely free up landfill space and reduce waste going to incineration overall. Our bags are recyclable, however due to the contents, sadly they cannot be placed in recycling and are intended for general waste!

Foxes in the Scottish Highlands eat an 'unprecedented' amount of dog poo

More than half of local authorities reported “an increase in both unbagged dog poo left on the ground and bagged dog poo, for example left hanging from railings or trees” since the start of 2021, in a recent survey by Keep Britain Tidy. These walks typically take her between three and eight hours a month and take in two beaches in Tor Bay, woodland, residential areas and public paths. However, it is vitally important that a puppy is socialised so that they are used to a range of different environment and experiences, and are well-behaved and comfortable around new people, dogs and other pets, while training will help to equip both you and your dog with good manners and basic discipline and control. Meanwhile, more than half a million dog owners admit to routinely leaving poo unbagged – while another quarter of a million say they often bag it but then hang it off a tree or put it under a bush rather than binning it, according to another recent report from Keep Britain Tidy, with research from YouGov.

When it comes to shrinking your dog’s carbon paw print, keep in mind that not all products with a green label are alike. Some dog poop bags are made of “oxo-biodegradable” plastic, which means they’ve been treated with metal salts to help speed up their breakdown in landfills. A step up from conventional plastic, oxo-biodegradable bags turn into small fragments, or “micro-plastics” which will unfortunately remain in the environment. News UK facing animal welfare emergency as record number of owners forced to give up their pets Read More It’s no wonder dog fouling is such a problem – there are estimated to be more than 8 million dogs producing more than 1,000 tonnes of mess every day in the UK alone. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if the problem was becoming worse again given the huge increase in the number of dogs – and, more importantly, the large numbers of ‘new’ dog owners,” he said. Why recycled plastic? The manufacture of recycled plastic requires less energy and produces fewer carbon emissions compared to compostable plastic. It also reduces the amount of plastic ending up in the open environment, landfill or incineration by capturing and re-using it.It’s just crazy, the amount I’m finding, it’s everywhere. Particularly on one footpath through a wood where sometimes every step you take there is a poo bag, just thrown into a hedge, on a tree or just on the floor,” she says. We also started questioning the logic that these compostable poo bags 'prevent plastic ending up in landfills and the ocean' - a common marketing trope. After asking our customers we found practically no one was composting compostable poo bags and over 95% were disposing of them in general waste i.e. landfill or incineration. This is in line with other research that shows home composting isn't a viable or scalable solution for compostable plastics. So I’m testing out the best dog poo bags to try to spread the word to more dog owners to be more considerate, to think about other footpath/park and countryside users – and to clean up properly after their dogs. Idris the lurcher is ready for his big moment – testing dog poo bags. The best dog poo bag needs to have three basic qualities. Of course, there are always trade-offs. Ours being that our bags not biodegradable. But equally, this means they won't produce methane in landfill and many studies have shown that compostable and biodegradable plastics don't biodegrade in the open environment (or even compost) either! What's more, unlike compostable and biodegradable poo bags that use precious food crops to make new plastic, our renewable content is from oyster shell waste, which is a far more sustainable material than corn-starch (or other food crops). Half of the councils are also having to empty bins more frequently as a result of people correctly binning their dogs’ poo, the survey found.