[SustainableTompkins] waste reduction experiment re kitty litter

[Margaret McCasland]

Hi all,

I have had great experience with wheat and corn 
litter, and we compost it "informally" in scrubby 
areas of the yard well away from the wells.

But the septic workshops I have been to all say 
NEVER flush litter into a septic tank--NEVER EVER 
clay, even if it says flushable, but not even 
plant-based litter.  I don't know how the 
municipal sewer people feel about various kinds 
of cat litter.  We do flush cat poo when it has 
almost no bits of litter on it (and then only 
corn or wheat litter).

There has been a controversy over whether pine 
litter has fumes that are not good for pets, but 
I don't know if that applies to cats.  I used to 
love it (as an improvement over clay), before the 
corn and wheat litter came out, which I like even 
better.

Even though the corn and wheat litters are 
expensive, they don't need to be changed as often 
as clay or pine litter and have much less odor. 
I found them cost-effective.

I think the suggestion to work something out with 
Solid Waste is a great one--probably only 
"industrial" style composting would be sanitary 
for pet waste. I do know someone experimenting 
with a home litter compost system, but I'll let 
him remain anonymous until his experiment is 
finished.

Margaret


>Tom, Kristie, and all...I also use the recycled pine kind for my two
>kitties. I empty the box daily into a lidded container, and then the
>container sits near the potty and we flush it gradually throughout the day.
>The pine breaks down into sawdust as soon as it gets wet, and although I
>can't say for sure since I've never actually done the research, I bet it
>decomposes pretty quickly. We do this because we only have room for one
>compost pile in our tiny side yard and it's been deemed organic-only for use
>in our garden.
>
>Kate Richard
>Ithaca's GREEN Realtor
>EcoBroker Certified®
>Energy Efficiency ~ Sustainable Practices ~ Health & Wellbeing
>RE/MAX In Motion
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>Cell: 607.592.1947Office: 607.277.1500 x 239www.katerichard.com
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>
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>
>-----Original Message-----
>
>From: "Kristie Snyder" <siki at frontiernet.net>
>
>To: <sustainabletompkins at lists.mutualaid.org>
>
>Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:18:38 -0500
>
>Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] waste reduction experiment re kitty
>litter
>
>
>
>
>Hi Tom,
>
>I can tell you from experience that the pine pellet type of litter is very
>
>compostable. We have been using, and composting, this type of litter with
>
>our three cats for many years. The key is to mix in some greener, wetter
>
>stuff (kitchen waste, grass clippings, whatever) to get it cooking, and stir
>
>
>often. It produces a very nice, fluffy compost that we use on ornamental
>
>areas only. We've had success using one of those round, black composters
>
>that they sell at the TC Solid Waste office; it keeps things well enough
>
>contained that there's not really any smell, so this works fine in the
>
>city -- we composted our cat litter in the city of Ithaca, right in our tiny
>
>
>backyard, for the four years we lived there, and I don't think any of the
>
>neighbors were any the wiser. We flushed the poop only, and composted the
>
>rest -- our 100-year-old plumbing was fine as long as there wasn't too much
>
>actual litter flushed. I liked to think that this made the resulting compost
>
>
>a bit "cleaner" in terms of pathogens, etc. The result of this system is
>
>that you have nothing to throw away except the (unfortunately) plastic bag
>
>the litter comes in.
>
>Good luck!
>
>-Kristie
>
>
>
>
>
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