Interest in “green” cat litter or environmentally friendly cat litter has increased quite a bit in the last few years as we all try to decrease our carbon footprint.  It makes sense we would want to do the same for our animals.  There are several different kinds of cat litter that can be recycled or even composted using a bit of common sense.  The four main types of eco-friendly cat litter are:  paper pellets (Yesterday’s News), pine pellets (Feline Pine), wheat hulls (Swheat Scoop), and corn cob (World’s Best Cat Litter).  Each of these types of cat litter is made using waste or manufacturing excess; unlike the clay-based cat litters, which are mined specifically to make litter.

 

Choosing an environmentally friendly cat litter is not just for those trying to utilize the dirty litter, but also those concerned with manufacturing processes.  These types of cat litter are designed to take materials that would end up in a landfill and reuse them for another purpose.  In order to feel like you are making a valuable contribution to the environment, you can choose one of the types of litter to help reduce your cat’s carbon footprint. 

 

If you want to use dirty litter as compost, make sure to remove solid waste before adding the litter to your compost pile.  It is possible for cat feces to contain toxoplasmosis, which is hazardous to children, pregnant women or anyone with a compromised immune system.  Keep this in mind before deciding to recycle any used cat litter.

 

Paper Pellets

Recycled paper is used to make litter such as Yesterday’s News.  These tiny pellets are made from compressed bits of recycled paper, which is what makes this type of litter so absorbent and environmentally friendly.  The most common main ingredient in this litter is recycled newspaper.  If all newspapers were recycled and turned into cat litter, how much clay and damage from mining could we ultimately avoid? 

 

When the cat uses the litter box full of recycled paper, the pellets swell to absorb the urine.  The solid waste needs to be scooped from the box and disposed of regularly.  The pellets that absorb the urine can be scooped out of the box, but they do not clump and can be difficult to clean out of the box.  Depending on the number of cats you have, it may be best when using this litter to simply regularly dump all the litter out of the box and start with fresh.

 

It may take a bit of an adjustment for your cat to learn to use this different type of litter; it has a distinctly different texture from traditional clay and scoopable litters.  If you want to switch to this type of litter, it would be best to try and transition your cat slowly to using only the paper pellets.  One method of doing this is to keep the litter box with the new paper pellets next to the old litter box full of your previous brand of litter.  Do not clean or scoop the old litter box, but instead allow the waste to build up and your cat will choose to use the box with the paper pellets, rather than the dirty litter box.

 

Pine Pellets

Pine pellet litter, such as Feline Pine, is made using sawdust that is compressed into small pellets.  This litter is similar in texture and appearance to the paper pellet litter, but there is a distinct pine or wood-like smell to it.  Just like the paper litter, this litter is made from materials that would otherwise be discarded in a landfill and for that reason this is environmentally friendly, even if you do not recycle it after it is used.

 

The pine pellets will absorb the urine, but instead of the pellets simply swelling (like the paper litter), the pellets break down and turn back into saw dust.  This litter is better from a scent standpoint, if you like the smell of pine, compared to the paper pellets, which have no odor control at all. 

 

This litter should be scooped clean of all solid waste and the sawdust remaining from the urine can be scooped out of the box, or simply thrown out all together.  If you gradually switch to any of these types of litter, it will take some time to decide what works best for you.

 

Wheat

Litter made from naturally processed wheat, such as Swheat Scoop, is also a viable alternative to traditional clay-based litters.  This litter has one distinct advantage above all others that can be considered environmentally friendly, which is that it is scoopable.  The litter made from corn is also scoopable, but the wheat litter clumps well and can also be flushed. 

 

Before flushing any litter, be sure to read up on instructions for minimizing problems, such as breaking large clumps into smaller clumps.  Also, there are tips on allowing any clumps that have been in the box for over 24 hours to break down a bit in the toilet before flushing. 

 

As with the previous described litters, this could also be used as compost, but the same guidelines apply.  Remove all solid waste, and never use compost with dirty cat litter to plant or grow any food, such as garden vegetables. 

Corn

This particular litter, which is made from whole kernel corn, is environmentally friendly because it is natural and does not require mining like clay litter.  One brand of corn-based litter is World’s Best Cat Litter, which is also scoopable like the wheat-based litter.  It is also flushable because the clumps break-up in water. 

 

Switching to a corn-based, or even a wheat-based, cat litter should not require a long transition.  The litter is composed of small bits, which are similar in texture to that of a traditional clumping, clay-scoopable litter. 

 

Corn-based litter does have a distinct odor to it.  There are no additives or kinds of odor control, other than those occurring naturally, so the smell accompanying the litter can be undesirable.  The ammonia odor from urine is absorbed by the litter, so it is not a litter smell, but rather a smell directly associated with the corn the litter is made from.  This may take some time for the humans in the household to become accustomed to. 

 

Environmentally Friendly Litter

All the types of environmentally friendly litter can leave you with peace of mind knowing you used products in the litter box that would otherwise be taken to a landfill.  If you put the dirty litter out with the trash, you have still helped the environment!  With the recycled paper litter, you have saved lots of newspaper that would be in the landfill and allowed it to serve an additional purpose.

 

Choosing a litter that is friendly to the environment is not simply about recycling or composting the dirty litter, but also about using recycled materials and decreasing the size of your cat’s carbon footprint.