ReSEAcled Poo Bags

Problems with their creation:

1. Not “plant-based”. Whilst often marketed as such, they still contain 50 - 80% polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) a biodegradable polymer made of fossil fuels. Only a mere 15 - 30% of the poo bag consist of cornstarch / plant material.
2. Still a plastic. While branded as “plastic-free”, these bags are in truth a type of plastic themselves – they are a “bioplastic”. They have the polymeric chemical structure of plastic. Any plant material used in its making has been chemically changed with other polymers added as above.
3. Plant-based plastic currently relies on food crops (corn / sugarcane) so directly competes with human food production and demands large amounts of land, energy and water. These scarce resources should be used to feed people of the world who are already battling starvation.
4. Some life cycle analyses indicate that plant-based plastic is the same, if not worse, than normal plastic, in terms of contributing to climate change, air pollution, ecotoxicity and energy use. This is mainly due to the industrial farming practices used to grow these crops, which undermines its potential sustainability.

Problems with their disposal:

1. Not biodegrading or ending up where they should. We lack the infrastructure to collect and industrially compost dog poo and less than 5% of people compost at home. This means these bags go to landfill or incineration. In landfill, they do not breakdown properly and produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas. In incineration, they can produce more carcinogens than some types of normal plastic.
2. Contributes to plastic pollution. These bags give people the false impression that they will quickly "break down" in any natural environment. But many studies show that biodegradable and compostable plastics often fail to biodegrade in real world environments, remaining intact for years before fragmenting into microplastics.
3. Increases littering. Misleading messaging as above lead to many thinking the bags will breakdown if left in the environment, which they don't.
4. New research shows 60% of certified home compostable bags don't reliably biodegrade in home compost, fragmenting into microplastics that could contaminate food plants.
5. There's a high level of customer confusion surrounding the terms biodegradable, degradable and compostable bags. Meaning the wrong bags may end up in the wrong place, where they will not breakdown.

Until we have sustainable compostable poo bags that reliably biodegrade and the infrastructure to actually compost them, we don't believe compostable (or biodegradable) poo bags can be considered 'eco-friendly'. This is in line with expert advice (as also discussed on BBC Radio 4 podcast 'Sliced Bread').

Visit this page for a list of our references and sources.

No. Research shows that even 'biodegradable' and 'compostable' plastic does not biodegrade in the real world and contributes to microplastics. Nothing properly biodegrades in landfill either, which is sadly where most poo bags end up! Or they often go to incineration, rendering biodegradability irrelevant.

Nonetheless, since our bags are made from waste that was already destined to go to landfill, you're helping reduce the amount of new waste going there - nice one.

China.

We tried to make these locally but were unable to find a suitable factory that could make poo bags to our specifications and at an acceptable cost.

As of 2024, we have not found any poo bags that are made in the UK.

To help mitigate this impact, we ship our poo bags by sea and never fly anything in. The manufacturer we partner with also has had a SMETA 4-pillar audit, that assesses labour standards, health & safety, environmental assessments and business ethics.

General waste at home or dog poo bins.

While they are technically recyclable, they cannot be recycled due to their contents!

No, if you compost your dog's poo you are better off without any poo bags or using certified home compostable poo bags.

Each poo bag measures approximately 24cm from top to bottom (36cm from top of handles to bottom of bag) and when opened they measure approximately 22cm wide.

They are 15 microns thick.

There are 15 bags on a roll and 16 rolls in a box (240 bags in total).

1. Recycled material percentage.

The bags currently use 25% virgin plastic. We have experimented with 100% recycled content but unfortunately, strength and quality were compromised. We are actively working towards 100% recycled content and hope to have this available by the end of 2024.

However, these current bags are still better than compostable and biodegradable bags that include 50-80% virgin fossil fuel based polymers (PBAT) or non-recycled bags that use 100% virgin material.

2. Where it is made.

ReSEAcled Poo Bags are made in China. We would ideally want to make them locally but have been unable to find a suitable factory that could make them to our specifications and at an acceptable cost to the end consumer.

As of 2024, we have not found any poo bags that are made in the UK.

To help mitigate this impact, we ship our poo bags by sea and never fly anything in. The manufacturer we partner with also has had a SMETA 4-pillar audit, that assesses labour standards, health & safety, environmental assessments and business ethics.

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While not perfect, ReSEAcled Poo Bags are the least harmful option for our planet when accounting for the entire life cycle of a poo bag.

Soon after starting our jobs as vets, we created Pet Impact and vowed to improve poo bag sustainability. Little did we know this would change the path of our lives forever…

Young and naïve, we simply followed what other brands were doing and began selling compostable “cornstarch” poo bags. Like others, we believed these were made from plants and would biodegrade regardless of where they end up, leaving no trace... How wrong we were!

After selling our compostable poo bags for a month, we had a moment of realisation. Like us, almost everyone disposes of compostable poo bags in general waste and poo bins. But these bags are not designed to go there...

This was the spark that pushed us to ask more questions. We read countless studies, spoke to plastic experts, emailed local councils and worked with sustainability consultants from The Rubbish Project to determine if these poo bags are as eco-friendly as claimed.

We were shocked to find out that biodegradable and compostable poo bags are as problematic as conventional plastic ones and may create more problems than they solve.

First, we learned that they need very specific compost environments to successfully biodegrade. But as there are no industrial composting facilities in the UK that accept dog waste, we must place them in a compost bin at home – something less than 5% of dog owners do.

This means compostable poo bags are going to landfill or incineration, rendering their biodegradability irrelevant..

Landfill lacks the right conditions for biodegradation (i.e. no oxygen or living microorganisms), so compostable poo bags persist for potentially hundreds of years, with the added problem of releasing methane, a potent greenhouse gas!

We then learned that compostable poo bags are a type of plastic themselves (bioplastics). Without the correct conditions for biodegradation in real-world environments, they release microplastics over time.

We then found that “plant-based” compostable poo bags have an extremely large environmental footprint, potentially larger than normal plastic. They still rely heavily on fossil fuels and are made with up to 80% PBAT, a biodegradable plastic made from petrochemicals! Most only contain 15-30% cornstarch despite being marketed otherwise. Using cornstarch isn’t great either – it competes with human food production and demands huge amounts of water, land, chemicals, and GMOs to produce.

We decided to stop selling our compostable poo bags and followed expert advice to create ReSEAcled Poo Bags from existing waste.

Considering biodegradability is irrelevant in incineration or landfill, what matters most is what the poo bags are made of. Recycling has consistently been shown to be the best case scenario in terms of sustainability, reducing plastic pollution, using less energy and emitting fewer emissions. It also avoids the many pitfalls of plant-based plastic, such as deforestation, biodiversity loss and competition with human food production.

We then went one step further and got ReSEAcled Poo Bags certified Plastic Negative meaning they remove five times more plastic from nature than they introduce.

While they may not be perfect, through learning from our mistakes and years of ongoing research, we're confident they are the best solution we have right now.

• Putting a waste stream to better use. The shell of an oyster represents more than 70% of its total weight, meaning every year, processing oysters for food leaves behind millions of tons of waste shells, most of which are landfilled.
  
• No additional demand is placed on oyster farming for ReSEAcled Poo Bags. Only existing waste shells are used.
  
• The calcite in the shells can be added to plastic to reduce its fossil fuel content, without compromising quality or functionality. The mining of limestone for calcite is typically environmentally destructive but converting waste shells to calcite is comparatively simple and requires less energy. It is also quickly renewable.
• Sustainability - Oyster farming is widely considered sustainable due to their rapid growth and need for few resources. In fact, they can actually have a net positive environmental impact due to their ability to clean the water of pollutants and sequester carbon dioxide.
• A responsible supply chain - Oysters are mostly sourced from coastal areas in Asia. Working in the oyster trade is a full time occupation for many residents. Like many local industries, individual households have the opportunity to make a living by providing a small part of the whole process - everyone has a way to earn money without one large entity controlling their employment. The ‘shucking’ is normally done by older female family members, but the industry involves the construction and renewal of the oyster bed infrastructure and preparing and transporting both the oyster meat and the shell. The requirements of the industry are diverse and it provides work for men and women of all ages.