All Things Dog Blog

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

Help Keep it Green

Wow; is that a compelling title or what?! For some weeks now I've had the pleasure of viewing a dumpster and porta-potty outside my office window. As I watch my neighbors walk by, I frequently see a bag of poop being dropped into the dumpster. That may seem like the logical place for it. It's all trash, after all.

Hmmm....Here's the thing. The dumpster contains pressure treated lumber that was used to build a dock prior to the 1994 removal of this particular product from the market. I won't bore you with all the toxic materials that could have been used on this lumber, but trust me in saying it is long and scary. That said, this dumpster full of toxin-laden wood is pretty dangerous stuff. It shouldn't be burned as firewood (although this is frequently done) because this releases chemicals and toxins into our atmosphere.

When I looked up the guidelines for disposal I was appalled to learn that the federal government does not have rules for placing such hazardous building materials in a hazmat (aka hazardous materials) dump. It can actually be taken to any dump that accepts general building materials. Ugg. So arsenic, chromium, copper, creosote and more are likely going to be seeping into the ground for hundreds of years, all due to the thousands...maybe millions...of docks built with these materials before 1994.

One brief statement I found indicated that some facilities provide heavily lined dumps specifically for hazardous building materials. These serve to reduce the seepage into groundwater from such materials. I'm not convinced that they're permanently secure; but they're better than just dropping the discards into the ground. Perhaps this is where our retired electronics also go after all their components are recycled or reused.

New methods of preservation are in use now and today's dock lumbers are much more Eco-friendly. Pressure treated lumber is not the greenest stuff on the planet, even with today's new standards. Recycled plastic bags are now made into decking and this gives new life to these toxic dregs of our modern world. The wood being removed due to disruption by gigantic tree roots is now being replaced and redesigned to retain the structural integrity of our dock. We'll see how this round goes. Check back in 30 years!

Watching the wood piling up, along with the poop bags intermingled in the mix, I couldn't help but wonder about the synergies that would occur when these materials end up decomposing over many years in the same dump. Add the plastic bags that those doggie "doodies" are contained in and we've got a treasure trove of toxic stuff that would take a chemist to determine the outcome of, say 50 years from now.

I just checked my supply of flushable poop bags and felt a little better. That's one hazardous material (referring to the poop, not the bag, which is made of a dissolvable and biodegradable material) that is being about as properly disposed of as it can be, in our sewer system.

I hope to add a Doggie Dooley (outdoor pet waste composter) one of these days when there are no more contractors working in the yard, digging and breaking things, almost daily. Add to that I have one of those super pooper scoopers that works for picking up deposits left by our local bear (yes, I'm serious!) that lives in the woods behind our home. Believe me, when he drops it in our yard, it can't be missed or picked up with a XL poop bag. No way. No how.

All this digression was simply to remind you that picking up after your dog goes beyond the bag. Think about the place it goes and what it ends up there with. They all decompose together and chemistry class happens. Let's look out for our Earth. It's the only one we have. If you don't do it for you, do it for them.