It is now 17 days since we started the ‘Reduce Challenge’ – and we had to take the garbage out for the first time. The good news is that it was only half a bag. The bad news is that it was mostly paper towels and the dog has a bladder infection.

I know what you are thinking – what are we doing with the dog and cat waste. Right now, I am embarrassed to say, we have not picked up the dog poop in the yard. As for the cat, we have two bags sitting outside. I have been procrastinating if we can actual compost the waste.

After some research I found you can compost both just don’t use it with your vegetable garden, which could contaminate your home grown produce and land up in your (very unhappy) belly. If you have room in your backyard, you can bury an old garbage bin (note: far away from your vegetable garden) to use as a pet-waste composter. Composting cat-litter is also a responsible way to keep potentially hazardous parasites and waste — like e. coli, toxoplasmosis, ammonia, and nitrate — out of our landfills and waterways. That’s also why pregnant women and people with immune deficiencies should never clean a cat box.

Whether you’re scooping for a kitty or a pooch, composting your pet’s waste will prevent it from polluting waterways and from taking up space in landfills.