Here's how to dispose of your pet's poo safely on P.E.I. - Action News
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Here's how to dispose of your pet's poo safely on P.E.I.

P.E.I.s Island Waste Management Corporation has been getting questions recently about which cart people should use for pet droppings.

Pet waste should not go in your backyard compost, waste agency warns

Some bags designed to collect pet droppings can be composted, but others cannot. (Kevin Yarr/CBC)

P.E.I.'s Island Waste Management Corporation has been getting questions recently about which cart people should use for pet poo.

Pet droppings arecompostable and can go in the green bin, saidHeather Myers, disposal manager for IWMC.

If you are bagging yard waste, and some pet poo is mixed in, that's acceptable.

If, however, you are using a bag to pick up the feces, the bag itself has to be compostable in order for it to go in the green bin.

Paper bags are fine, but if you are using a bag that appears to be plastic, it has to be marked as certified compostable, usually with the BPI logo.

"If there's any bags that say 'compostable' but they don't have the certification logos, then they are waste," said Myers.

"Any other type of plastic bag, it would go into the waste."

An item that can be processed in a commercial composter will have one of these labels. (Island Waste Management Corporation)

Most types of used kitty litter can also go into the compost bin,said Myers. The exception is pearl-type silica, which should go into the black waste bin.

If you are disposing of a plastic cat littertray, that would have to go into the waste unless it has the certified compostable logo.

Myers cautioned that these rules apply only to green bin contents destined for large, commercial composting facilities, and not to backyard compost bins.

"Pet feces does contain a lot of very harmful pathogens, and backyard composters don't reach the high temperatures like central composting facilities do," she said.

"It's not recommended to put pet feces into a backyard composter because of that."

IWMC maintains a searchable guide for all your waste disposal questions on its website.

More from CBC P.E.I.

With files from Island Morning