Saying Good-bye to Plastic-Free Cat Litter… Again!
Arya loves SwheatScoop cat litter. She loves to rip open the bag, spread the litter across the kitchen floor, and then lie in it and take a nap. Why confine such an awesome substance to her litter box?
Soots on the other hand, will have almost nothing to do with it. To avoid grossing you out, I provide the following black and white representation of what Soots thinks of SwheatScoop:
I wanted to love Swheatscoop natural clumping, flushable cat litter. I really did. Especially because it’s the only flushable* litter that comes in a paper bag rather than plastic. [2016 update: Swheatscoop has switched to a plastic bag. We now use Integrity cat litter instead.] Even the boxed litters have plastic bags inside.
*For those who weren’t here for the beginning of the cat litter story, we feel comfortable flushing their poop because they are indoor cats that have tested negative for toxoplasma gondii, the parasite that kills sea otters.
We tried to love it last year and failed, switching instead to World’s Best Cat Litter — corn in a plastic bag — and writing a letter to the company asking for different packaging in order to assuage our (my) guilt.
Looks like I’ll be following up with them soon to see how they’re coming on that packaging problem because we just can’t have Soots pooping on the floor every day. Not to mention, the SwheatScoop does not absorb odors or clump nearly as well as the World’s Best.
And yes, this post was an excuse to show you photos of bad Arya being so totally cute that all I could do was laugh as I swept up her mess on Sunday… laugh, cough, sweep, laugh, cough, sweep…
But I really will write back to World’s Best Cat Litter. Not going to start a major campaign any time soon, but maybe those who wrote before want to join me in following up?
Here’s the contact info:
GPC Pet Products
1600 Oregon Street
Muscatine , IA 52761
Email contact form: http://www.worldsbestcatlitter.com/Contact/default.aspx
OMG is it hard to find plastic free pet products. My cat litter quest has been very frustrating. I would like to have environmentally friendly cat litter that comes in nice packaging but it just doesn’t exist. And the sad thing is that the products you mention are crazy expensive. I also wonder about the types of plastic used in the packaging. I almost prefer the boxes with plastic bags in them because at least that material is familiar.
My cat’s name is Arya too 🙂
https://www.yesterdaysnews.com/ is a really awesome cat litter. It’s made from recycled paper and comes in a paper bag. It’s cheap and even though it does not clump, it is really easy to deal with.
It is no longer in paper bags sadly
I switched to Okocat cat litter. I had planned to write about it a few years ago, and life intervened and I haven’t been able to post. Planning to write a new blog post soon explaining my absence.
Hi Beth, I love your blog and website! I read Plastic Ocean last summer and have been altering my lifestyle bit by bit. A few months ago I switched to YESTERDAY’S NEWS cat litter, made from recycled paper and the best part is that it comes in a paper bag. I have discovered that disposing of the litter in a regular paper grocery bag works just fine, and of course you can use the Yesterday’s News bag when it is empty too.
I tie the paper bag up with cheap twine, wrapped around the bottom of the bag and tied at the top, and it goes in the trash.
The solid waste is a problem I have not solved yet. It currently goes into a small plastic bag and into the trash, but I probably should try flushing it (also a healthy indoor cat).
Thanks so much!
I know this is a really old post, but I use Arm & Hammer litter in a cardboard box and it has no plastic bag inside.
And I had been all set when I came here today on suggesting that you host a writing campaign. Maybe we get Credo to do it, but it seems to be a bit under their radar.
You’d think that since this company is dealing with so much corn, they’d at least start using corn-based plastic. I know, that has problems and issues, too, but it’s a start. At this point I’d settle for recyclable plastic. Since we’re in SF, we have some outlets for it, but not the current kind.
FYI, there’s a rebate for this stuff right now, but it’s the smaller size. Unfortunately, we could use the money right now…
Keep up the good work, lady!
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Apparently, I don’t know how to spell it either, as I spelled it two different ways in my post and then just now went back and corrected it. But folks who subscribe will have seen the misspellings already!
Axelle, you are a better man that I. You and Allie should get together, what with your rinsing out clay litter and drying it in the sun and her papier mache cat litter also drying in the sun.
Man, I’m up way past my bed time again.