Can I Compost Dog & Cat Poo (Faeces)?Friday, 18 April 2014 | HOTBIN Composting Yes, all faeces from all animals is compostable Can I compost dog / cat poo safely?Yes but there are some rules Can I compost dog / cat poo in the HOTBIN?
Should I compost dog and cat poo, is it worth doing?Yes. There are an estimated 9.6m cats and 6.8m dogs in the UK (1 in 2 households have one). This equals about to 1.2 million tonnes of poo most of which is currently scooped, bagged and sent to landfill. Many composting sites advise not to compost dog or car poo. Why is the HOTBIN different?Most state composting faeces/poop poses a potential health risk. Some state it is OK to compost herbivore (plant eating) faeces but not poo from meat eating animals. All poo (faeces) from all animals including (humans) has the potential to be harmful as they can contain pathogenic bacteria (eg e-coli, salmonella), parasites such as roundworm or phytotoxic chemical (dangerous to plants). Most human diseases have a poor life expectancy outside the human body / intestine; normally they survive hours or days. The main concern with dog and cat poo is parasite worms. On rare occasions, the worms can carry parasites that are dangerous to humans (eg Toxocara, or t-gondii (producing toxoplasmosis). These parasites produce egg oocysts which can survive up to a year depending on conditions in soil. If you ingest (eat) the egg, it can develop in the human body leading to medical issues. These eggs are destroyed faster in high temperature composting. Assuming you follow the basic hygiene precautions, high temperature composting is much safer than cold composting. What are the risks?Defra has an excellent risk analysis for composting and pathogens. They seek to determine the 'minimal acceptable risk' - ie, so low the Government accept it. All pathogen destruction depends on time and temperature. The higher the temperature and longer time the greater the destruction. At 60°C pathogen destruction is remarkably quick - hours! Toxocariasis is a rare infection caused by roundworm parasites (Toxocara), it impact is treatable and serious problems are rare - as summarised in by the NHS Website . Now we know there is a small risk and the pathway is via ingestion of eggs in the poo or soil or compost. Applying a risk analysis process, you would normally seek to mitigate or remove the high risks before worrying about those posing the least risk. What we have done below is extend the risk analysis from pet ownership down to composting and then hot composting. YOU are the guardian of your safety - we are not experts in infection or risk analysis, all we can do is offer information to help you make your own judgement. Hopefully you will see that owning a pet, collecting faeces are high risk whereas if you ‘hot’ compost poo within 5-days after excretion, taking sensible hygiene precautions and not in a high-risk group, the risk is very low. Risk Analysis - from high to lowThere are many excellent web postings on the risks from toxoplasmosis Is your cat shedding oocysts? Do you remove litter/faeces daily? Do you wear gloves when changing litter and wash your hands after? Are you hot or cold composting? How much faeces waste is added to your heap versus other material? Are you wearing gloves when composting? How much diluted compost will get onto your hands? Do you wash your hands after composting? Is the person pregnant and not previously exposed, or suffering from a severely weakened immune system? | Forum Email us
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