How environmentally friendly are "green" dog poop bags?
If you pay a premium for "green" dog poop bags because you want your dog's poop to be more environmentally friendly, you might be wasting your money.
The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday said it sent warning letters to 20 companies that sell bags designed to hold dog waste that claims they are "biodegradable" and "compostable" and other things supposedly environmentally friendly.
The reason? The claims appear to be deceptive.
"Consumers looking to buy environmentally friendly products should not have to guess whether the claims made are accurate," Jessica Rich, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement.
It turns out the federal government has a set of rules about making green claims, including how long it should take for a product to break down in order to say it is biodegradable. That specific rules says an item should break down within a year after typical disposal.
And therein lies the problem. Most people throw away their dog poop with the regular trash and that means it's likely headed to a landfill. And if it goes to landfill, the FTC said, it won't break down in a year, or maybe ever.
As far as "compostable" claims, that should mean that the product will break down just as grass clippings or leaves will. However, dog poop is not considered safe for home composting and, therefore, the FTC said, such claims are hollow.
The agency has asked the companies to take a hard look at what they're claiming and decide what is going to change or defend why it won't.
