Eco-Friendly Cat Litter Options

While pet owners may enjoy the convenience of disposable products, the long-term impact on the environment is concerning, and there are many eco-friendly options available that are better for our planet.

Who doesn’t know that cat litter is an indispensable product in the process of nurturing feline at home? However, the effect of traditional clay and chemical based litter can be damaging to the environment. Cat litter has problems over the entire life cycle: sourcing materials for its production; methods of production; and disposal. 

The good news is that more options exist for eco-friendly cat litter, and those options are becoming easier to find. These options offer a more environmentally friendly method for cat litters and are just as capable of dealing with odor and absorption for cats. In this article, we’ll detail how these eco-friendly cat litter types can help you minimize your environmental paw print.

Plant-Based Cat Litters

Plant-based cat litters are natural and biodegradable resources from plants such as pine, wheat, and corn. Given that these litters are derived from plants that grow quickly and can be replenished from seed multiple times, they are considered to be more eco-friendly than clay litters that leach essential minerals from the earth. Plants also reduce their carbon dioxide intake from the atmosphere as they expand through photosynthesis and act as nature’s way of counteracting greenhouse gases.

It is derived from the sawdust of the pine lumber meant for constructional use but is converted into cat litter. Nothing goes to waste! Wheat and corn litters also employ the left-over of the ag industry where what is otherwise considered as waste is incorporated into the new product. This can be advantageous in that it minimizes on the effects that are usually caused by the lumber industry as well as the crop growing industry. 

Try using plant-based litters with SFI or FSC certification on the pack to ensure that the trees used to make the litter comes from well-managed forests. These help to make sure the pine come from well managed forests. Organically grown or biodegradable corn and wheat litters benefit the crop producers in particular because their crop is environmentally friendly as well.

Recycled Newspaper Cat Litters

How about using newspaper as the cat litter? Yes, it can be done and it is yet another example of a recycled material. The paper which would have been shredded and possibly dumped in landfills is given a second chance instead. Recycling is effective in that it helps to decrease the amounts of waste that ends up in landfills, as well as the energy required to extract new materials from sources such as mines or quarries. 

Using paper pellets yields good results in terms of odor control due to the absorptive capabilities of cellulose. Also consider a newspaper cat litter that is made of post-consumer recycled content as opposed to scraps left over from the cat litter industry. Using recycled newspaper litter is a way to handle two waste streams at once: scraps of food, clothes and paper. They simply have to scoop the poop, dispose of the litter, and keep millions of paper out of the basket!

Biodegradable Cat Litters

Clay litters which are the most popular type of cat litters are burned or buried in landfills for hundreds of years since they are non biodegradable. The creation of new litter goes on and on, desperately using up limited natural resources. Nonetheless, there is a safe and ecological approach to cat litter, which is created from biodegradable materials.

Biodegradable litters like the wood, paper, wheat, corn, and grass seed litters decompose much faster than clay when they are disposed. This helps in preventing wastage, and also contributes back to the soil nutrients that were taken by the plants. On a better note, some biodegradable litters are both compostable and flushable which are great for the environment.

Compostable litters can be put directly in another compost pile after use of the products. This is because they can use litter a third time – converting it into growing plants, then into litter and finally as fertiliser to the new plants! It is also considered undesirable to flush biodegradable litter even if one understands that this way it is possible to save tons of garbage from being taken to landfills annually. Note that you are free to flush it but if you have any plumbing concerns advise them to take it to the bin.

Catastrophe Cat Litter – Silica Gel Crystal

A more sustainable litter choice for a different crowdsourcing campaign is silica gel crystals. This is a silica gel formed from sand, a naturally renewable material that creates super-absorbent beads. The case of the crystal litter is that it encapsulates the liquid waste inside to minimize smell significantly more than the clay litter. 

Silica gel crystals have a life expectancy of one month before change while scooping clumping clay is a daily task. This is because the long lifespan you use far less litter, and thus save more on the overall litter usage, translating to no wastage. The crystals, once used, decompose and can be flushed down the sink, or disposed of in the trash.

Taking it a notch higher in terms of being environmentally friendly, opt for the silica litter that is now enriched with renewable bamboo charcoal. The use of bamboo charcoal intensifies this duo owing to its abilities to absorb and deodorize. Another traditional grass that fits the bill of sustainability because it is a fast-growing one that can be replanted easily is bamboo.

Make the Switch – For Your Cat and the Planet

This, coupled with the reality that there is such a wide range of biodegradable cat litters on the market today, transitioning to a more environmentally friendly litter is simple. There are the litters from plant base, recycled paper litters, biodegradable litters and silica gel litters, all the earth friendly litters offer great performance. Thus, the replacement of cat litter can save waste, emissions, resources and pollution which would have otherwise accumulated due to improper disposal. Thus, when trying to envision or understand so many possibilities to make the right swaps for cat and planet, they both can remain happy!