Composting

cazsophieq2019

Hi again

I hope everyone is well?

Every day I clean out my cats' litter trays and chuck the results in my recycling bin.

However as I use biodegradable paper pellet litter, was wondering if the used litter, cat pooh etc be thrown into my compost bin?  

Any thoughts? 

Thanks ☺️👍

josusa47

The usual composting advice says no carnivore poo - I'm not sure why, maybe on hygiene grounds.  Freshly-voided urine is virtually sterile, the kidneys being a very fine filter, but the nitrogenous compounds in it quickly attract bacteria once it's exposed to air.  So the wet litter would probably be OK to compost, the sooner you can use it the better.

Liriodendron

I believe the "nasties" in carnivore poo can't be guaranteed to break down harmlessly in your home compost bin, so the resulting compost could possibly be a health hazard.  

I put the "clumps" of biodegradable litter and wee onto the compost heap, and flush away the poo.

Dovefromabove

Given the dislike most of us have of finding cat faeces on our hands after gardening, there’s no way I’d include them in my compost heap to be spread on my garden where I grow my salads. 😞 

Lyn

I clean out the poo into a bag then compost the wet litter. It’s very strange but I always use Fullers Earth and those red worms just love to breed in it,  you can pick up a great knot of them in a clump or cat litter. 
I definitely wouldn’t put the poo on there though.  

WillowBark

Cat poo is a toxoplasmosis risk (can cause blindness and is particularly risky when pregnant - one of the reasons pregnant women are told not to clean out litter boxes). I would never put cat poo on my compost heap. Whenever our neighbour's cat poos in my vegetable beds, I make sure that I dig down and lift up soil as well as poo - I don't want cat poo anywhere near anything that I am later going to harvest and eat!

By all means compost other paper (e.g. old documents or cardboard boxes) but I would heavily advise against composting anything that's been near cat poo. Or dog poo, for that matter - they carry nasty parasites too.

cazsophieq2019

Hi everyone

Thanks so much for your feedback very helpful.

I think I'll avoid putting any cat litter in my composter just in case, and keep it for the recycling bin that gets collected on a fortnightly basis.

Caz :-)

Topbird

I'll just play Devil's Advocate here.

When we had a cat I used sawdust pellets in the litter tray and just used to throw it all in the compost bin. Never found any remotely solid bits remaining after 6 - 9 months of composting.

I do manage my compost bins quite well and they often get quite hot which helps break everything down, I wear gloves when gardening and the compost is used for mulching ornamental borders rather than food crops. Never had any issues at all.

Wouldn't recommend it if you have young children or pregnant ladies around or if it's for veg beds. Otherwise I think it's ok.

Papi Jo

Today, this ” crappy ” year 2020 is in its final hours. In papi Jo’s garden it will end up … on the compost heap.

Rubytoo

https://www.vettimes.co.uk/to-flush-or-not-to-flush/

robairdmacraignil

cazsophieq2019 said:

Hi again

I hope everyone is well?

Every day I clean out my cats' litter trays and chuck the results in my recycling bin.

However as I use biodegradable paper pellet litter, was wondering if the used litter, cat pooh etc be thrown into my compost bin?  

Any thoughts? 

Thanks ☺️👍

Are you sure cat poo is meant to go in your recycling bin?