Percentage of pet waste vs. other trash
Updated: Apr 1
Pet waste compared to other U.S. waste
When reviewing the data for waste quantities below, keep in mind that anaerobic degradation of organics such as pet waste in landfills results in methane emissions that impact air quality.
“Each ton of organic waste disposed of as landfill and broken down by anaerobic fermentation releases about one ton of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2–e) of greenhouse gases, mostly in the form of methane.”
Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States, accounting for approximately 15.1 percent of these emissions in 2018.
In “Strategies for Reducing Degradable Organic Wastes in Landfills" the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources states: “Current landfill designs and practices do not provide for degradation of landfilled organic wastes within a defined and reasonable timeframe. Un-degraded organic wastes can potentially cause future environmental or economic impacts if the landfill gas and leachate collection and containment systems (cap and/or liner) fail at some time in the future. Potential economic burdens and environmental risks associated with these undegraded wastes will be largely borne by future generations.”
Below: from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: 2018 Facts and Figures about Materials, as posted March 2021
Printed in black: direct data from EPA 2018 Facts and Figures (disposal of traditionally quantified materials)
*estimated amount of dog and cat waste by weight streamed to landfill
**estimated amount of pet waste in residential waste stream reported by Canadian sources
* Six and a half million tons of dog waste plus 3.6 million tons of cat waste plus two million tons of disposed litter totals approximately 12 million tons of pet waste streamed to U.S. landfills each year.
** “We have been doing a series of waste audits on residential garbage. We’ve done two so far and the third is slated to be done August/September of 2018. What we did find in both of those audits, consistently, is that 12 per cent of what is in the residential waste is pet waste.” Susan Grimm, team leader, City of Airdrie (Alberta) Waste and Recycling Services
Summary
This data projection shows that pet waste is under the radar. But the need for accurate data on the quantity and its relationship to other MSW is essential to developing standardized best practices for diverting pet waste from landfills.
The methane angle really got me — I never thought about how much of a landfill's emissions problem comes down to what's essentially organic material breaking down anaerobically. That Wisconsin DNR quote about future generations bearing the cost of undegraded waste is pretty sobering. Speaking of things that degrade, I've messed around with a bad quality maker to intentionally crunch images for memes, and it's funny how that's the exact opposite of what we want for the environment — we're trying to reduce degradation there, not add more.
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Pet waste slope run (dog and cat feces, along with litter) accounts for approximately 8–12% of total municipal solid waste in many urban areas, according to studies conducted in Canada and the United States.
I had no idea pet waste was a meaningful slice of landfill methane — the 15.1% stat really puts it in perspective. It got me wondering about my own household's waste breakdown, and I found matcha flavored minecraft guide that visualizes waste streams in a similar way. Nice to have a concrete tool for seeing where the impact actually sits.
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