Biodegradable Poop Bags - What you may not have known

I was doing a bit of checking around today as my wife and I want to be more conscious of the fact that Momo, our Shiba, does a lot of number 2's each week/month/year. And when considering how often and the size, that's quite a bit of waste that is coming from such a little dog.

So we went to PetSmart and though that their biodegradable bags were worth while. But we came to a disclaimer at the bottom of these bags:

Bags are 100 biodegradable* (*except as defined by California).

So I did a quick Google search and came across this the website for PoopBags and a few stats came to light:

• 4 million tons – It is estimated that dog owners do not collect over 4 million tons of dog waste annually.
• 20-30% of all pollutants in waterways attributed to dog waste – Pollutants originating from rainwater run-off via sewer systems, and dogs pooping near watersheds or beaches. Overall, it is believed dog waste is third or fourth on the list of contributors to bacteria in contaminated waters.
• 4th highest generated waste – Plastics are the fourth highest generated waste in the U.S., originate from petroleum which is non-renewable, do not biodegrade, and take thousands of years to break down. Paper, yard trimmings, and food scraps are the top three generated. However, all of them come from renewable resources.
• Bottom – Plastics are the least recycled with a 6.9% recovery rate. In 2006, the U.S. produced 29.5 million tons of plastic and only recycled 2.04 tons.

Now what's really interesting is this part:

Various plastic bag manufacturers probably use the term "biodegradability" - shall we say - loosely and lightly. The ASTM D6400
specification puts a kabosh on all of that. Basically, the specification requires that the material is fully tested to ensure that it will degrade at
a similar rate as an apple, and that no large plastic fragments should remain.

More than likely, the loose and light manufacturers' bags do not meet biodegradable standards of any sort, and are just regular plastic bags.
All in all, bag manufacturers - who claim their bags are biodegradable but do not meet the ASTM D6400 specification - are misleading
consumers and are acting negligently towards the environment.

California’s law, SB 1749, maintains that bags should meet the ASTM D6400 specification for biodegradable product claims. Several other
states are also instituting policies like California. PoopBags.com’s dog waste bags proudly meet this standard.

So basically it would seem that the good folks in California have been a bit more progressive than we would normally assume and in this, cause other manufacturers to not be able to certify that their products are as biodegradable as they would like people to think.

So lesson learned, if you are looking for poop bags and you want to do something good for the environment, look no further than PoopBags.com!