How To Get Your Dog Recycling to Reduce Its Impact!

We all love our dogs; they are our best friends. We also all love spoiling our dogs with treats and toys. But what about our dog’s impact on the planet? Is there a way we can reduce their impact but still spoil them? Yes, there are many ways you can help to reduce your dog’s impact. Below, we will take you through 5 simple actions to help get your dog recycling. Well, perhaps you can do it on their behalf.

So how can you and your best friend reduce your impact? There are quite a few ways to help reduce your dog’s impact, from home cooking to buying eco-friendly dog products and recycled dog toys.

What impact do dogs have?

We all love our dogs and want them to be healthy and happy. However, just like us, our dogs have an impact on the planet. Here are just some of the impacts dogs have on the planet:

1. Dogs consume a lot of food. From big to small, they can go through a lot of food. Luckily, however, there is not often a lot of food wastage! There is, however, all that packaging. Our dog Ebony lived till she was 18 years old, and we were very guilty of spoiling her often. All the packaging from the yummy treats would have added up to quite a bit over her lifetime.
2. There are other impacts related to the food our dogs consume. The production and supply chain impact and the delivery to the pet shop shelves.
3. The more they eat, the more they poop! Which leads us to the question of what to do with their poop? We have some great solutions below.
4. Dog toys are usually made of plastic. There are some great benefits, like durability and flexibility. But how often do we consider what type of plastic the toys are made from or their impact on the planet? Can we recycle the plastic toy, or will it just end up in landfill? Getting your dog recycling is pretty unlikely, so it is up to us to do the recycling for them.

So, how do we reduce some of these impacts? There are many ways you can start helping your dog to reduce its impact. Here are our top five.

Action 1 – Home-cooked meals

First and foremost, we like to look for ways to reduce our use of materials. For dogs, or any pets for that matter, home-cooked meals are a good way to do this, and they are generally going to be good for them too.

For our old girl Ebony, a switch to home-cooked meals was essential as most store-bought foods were too rich for her. There are a lot of great blogs online where you can get recipes for different meals. Be sure to check your pooch is getting all the nutrients they need, so check with your vet.

By cooking your own meals, you can save a lot of packaging. An excellent way to save on packaging is to cook your own dog treats. I also started doing this for our dog because she could not eat most of the treats available. Not only were they too salty, but also too hard for her.

I made big batches and stored them in reusable plastic containers. I very quickly noticed there was a lot less packaging to dispose of. If your dogs get spoilt, it adds up to a lot of empty treat bags!

There are many great blogs with recipes for home-cooked dog meals and dog treats. Why not start with these Rosemary Crackers or Peanut Butter Banana Cookies.

Action 2 – Recycle all your packaging

It is easy to go through a lot of dog food packaging, especially if you spoil your dog with treats every day. Recycling dog food packaging helps put those materials back into circulation to be made into other products.

Here are a few easy tips to help you get started:

• Dog food Cans – The steel or aluminum cans from dog food should be cleaned and placed in your curbside recycling.
• Soft packaging – Many dog treats, snacks, and dry dog food is supplied in a soft plastic bag or a zip-lock bag. Most of these can be recycled with your soft plastic recycling. For more information and how to find your local soft plastics recycling location, click here. If you have a big dog, you might need to cut up the large bags when you recycle them.
• Food pouches or squeeze pouches – These are accepted by some soft recycling facilities. Find your local facility using the link above.
• Boxes – some treats, like dog biscuits, may come in cardboard boxes. These can be placed directly into your curbside recycling bin.

Action 3 – What to do with your dog poop?

Ahh, the dreaded dog poo! If only we could get them to use the toilet! When we get our next furry friends, I think I will invest in a compostable dog toilet. I think it’s a great idea.

Compostable poop bags – there are many brands of compostable poop bags. This is a lot better than using your old plastic bags as they should be recycled in your soft plastic recycling. Some examples of biodegradable bags are Biotuff, Earth rated, Planet Poop.

Compost your pet poo – Better still go for no bags and start a compost for your pet’s poop. We recently started using a Bokashi composting system for our kitchen scraps to reduce our food waste at home. It has been relatively easy to use, so I was excited to see that there is also a Bokashi available for your dog’s waste. Not only that but they are made from recycled plastic, what a bonus.

The kit comes with its own micro-organisms to help break down the waste. You dig it into the garden somewhere with no need to empty it, you simply move it to a new spot now and then. Be sure to keep it away from your edible plants, though. We haven’t had a chance to try this one yet, so if you have used one, please contact us with your comments. We’d love to hear how you have found it.

Get your dog to use your toilet – Hmm, that might be a bit hard, depending on how smart your dog really is. Instead, you could use flushable poop bags. That means collecting your dog’s poop in the bag and then flushing it down your toilet.

Action 4 – Get your dog recycling at playtime

We all love spoiling our pets, but all those toys generally end up in landfill. There are some things we can do to reduce this impact:

• Buy Eco-friendly dog products. There are a lot of options available for buying eco-friendly pet products. There are eco-friendly dog collars, leads, eco-friendly toys, beds, and even eco-grooming options.
• Buy long-lasting, sturdy toys. As with anything, it is always best to buy good quality; it will last longer, and you will replace it less often. For some of us with destroyer dogs, this might be difficult! Check out some of the great toys by West Paw. They are pretty durable and can be recycled if they do get destroyed!

West Paw dog toy

• Buy recycled dog toys that are made from recycled material. There are many options available. Check out our favorite brands making recycled dog products.
• Look after your dog toys. Putting toys away when playtime is over can help keep them in good condition. Toys left out in the sun and rain will degrade faster and fall apart. Many toys can also go in the dishwasher or washing machine to keep them clean. Why not make it a game and teach your dog how to put his toys away.

• Take your dog on a beach clean. These amazing dogs are cleaning up our polluted world one plastic bottle at a time.

Please make sure when choosing or making your own dog toys that they are safe for your dog. Here is a great article on the importance of safe dog toys.

Action 5 – Give your dog toys a new life

If your dog toys are still in reasonable condition but have lost their pizza, why not mend them. This is particularly good if it’s your dog’s favorite toy. You can refill old toys if they have lost their stuffing and sew up any holes. Some other ideas are:

• Repurpose your kid’s toys. Be sure to check for any items they could choke on.
• Make soft toys from your old clothes.
• Use your old clothes to refill your dog bed. There is a great company selling dog bed covers that can be filled by you called Molly Mut.
• Keep an eye out for recycled filling if you prefer to stick to that.

The round-up

There are some easy steps you can take to get your dog recycling like a pro. You can even make a game out of it and teach them some new tricks like picking up their toys or even going on a cleanup day with you. Some simple actions you can take:

• Action 1 – make home-cooked meals for your dog to save on packaging and other waste
• Action 2 – Recycle all your dog food packaging
• Action 3 – Use biodegradable dog poo bags or look at installing a composter, especially for dog poo.
• Action 4 – Buy recycled dog toys and teach your dog to help clean up after playtime. Maybe even teach them to be a dog recycling expert and help clean up the local dog park.
• Action 5 – Reuse as much as possible and give your dog toys a new life.

This post is dedicated to Ebony who we loved so very much. ❤