[chilliepepper]

I know many of us use cloth diapers because we don't want to contaminate our water supply by sending baby poo to landfills. But what about those of us who conscientiously pick up after our dogs when we take them on walks, not wanting to contaminate the bottoms of other people's shoes or annoy our neighbors?

There's no way I'm bringing my dog's poop in and flushing it down the toilet (that's where I draw the line), so it goes out to the curb in plastic bags on trash day. At least I'm recycling the plastic shopping bags.

But wouldn't that be just as bad as baby poop going out with the trash? Or is human poo more evil than dog poo?

 

[chilliepepper]

Sorry I've been away a few days, but I did want to continue this thread. I'm not so sure that the slow decomposition of diapers is the only issue. According to an article on the Diaper Hyena website (see the section at the bottom about health hazards) :

Quote:

In her book, THE JOY OF CLOTH DIAPERS, Jane McConnell reported that our landfills contain 5 million tons of untreated human waste - a breeding ground for diseases that could potentially contaminate our groundwater (4). When you toss a disposable into the dumpster you are adding to the 84 million lbs. of raw fecal matter going to the environment per year (8). The Lehrburger report mentioned above also suggested that disposable diapers may represent a health risk at landfill sites and recommends that state health officials determine if diapers should be classified as infectious waste because of the untreated feces and urine they contain (13). There are an estimated 100 intestinal viruses living on the feces in landfills and these viruses are also possible contaminates of our water supplies and could latch on to the insects that would bring these diseases back to us (17).

So I was just thinking if that is true, wouldn't the same be true for dog poo?

Would it be bad discussion board etiquette to cross post this thread on the diapering board (I'm kind of new to web forums so I'm afraid I'll do some kind of faux pas)? I'm curious what some of those mamas would say. Is there an easy way to do that?