How to dispose of dog poop: trash, flush, compost or bury?

Scooping is half the job. The other half is deciding where it goes, and a few of the obvious answers create new problems. Here's how every option compares, with what the EPA, the CDC and local rules say about each.

What is the right way to dispose of dog poop?

For most homes, bag it and put it in the trash. Flushing, composting and burying can work too, each with a catch. Storm drains and yard waste carts are off the table.

The details, and the sources behind them, are below.

Can dog poop go in the trash?

Yes, and it's the default for good reason. The CDC says pet waste should be picked up daily and buried or bagged for the trash, and the Macomb County Health Department asks residents to clean up pet waste routinely and put it in the garbage. An EPA drinking water bulletin says the same, as long as local law allows it.

A few habits make trash day better:

• Seal the bag. As part of its fly-control advice, the University of California's pest management program says to seal pet feces in plastic bags before they go into an outdoor trash container (UC IPM).
• Use the outdoor can, not the kitchen trash, and keep the lid shut.
• Double-bag in summer if pickup day is a ways off.

Can you flush dog poop down the toilet?

On a city sewer line, yes, as long as it's only the poop. The bag goes in the trash.

The same EPA bulletin says pet waste should be flushed as long as it isn't mixed with other materials, so a treatment plant can deal with it. Two caveats:

• Septic systems. EPA's septic care guide says to flush only human waste and toilet paper. If your home is on septic, use the trash.
• Combined sewers. In the drainage district that covers all of Eastpointe and most of St. Clair Shores, large rainstorms can push overflows of combined stormwater and sewage into Lake St. Clair, according to Macomb County.

Sewer rules vary by community, so if you're unsure, ask your city's water and sewer department before you start flushing.

Can you compost dog poop?

Not in your regular compost pile. It takes a separate, hot system, and the finished compost has to stay away from food.

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service tells backyard composters to leave out dog and cat manure, which can carry disease, and the EPA bulletin doesn't recommend pet waste for backyard piles either. UF/IFAS Extension describes a special method from an Alaska study, run by the Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District with local dog mushers. The pile has to hit 140°F to kill pathogens, and it takes 4 to 8 weeks. Even then, the extension notes that NRCS isn't sure the heat kills roundworm, so the finished compost goes only on non-food plantings such as flower beds and shrubs, never on food crops.

For more on why "it's just fertilizer" doesn't hold up, see is dog poop good fertilizer?

Can you bury dog poop in your yard?

Yes, if you dig deep and pick the spot carefully. It's more work than it sounds.

The EPA bulletin's method:

1. Dig a hole at least a foot deep.
2. Put three to four inches of waste at the bottom, and chop it into the soil with a shovel.
3. Top it with at least eight inches of soil, deep enough that pets and rodents can't dig it back up.
4. Bury only around ornamental plants, never in a vegetable garden.

Some local codes name burial as an option for waste on your own property, including Eastpointe (Sec. 8-1) and Clinton Township (§610.04). Keep burial spots away from where kids play. The CDC says roundworm eggs can survive for months or even years, and the Companion Animal Parasite Council says they can stay infective for years.

Pet waste digesters are a tidier kind of burial. The EPA describes these "doggy loos" as small units installed in the ground at home, where the waste decomposes with little maintenance.

Can dog poop go in the yard waste bin?

No. Yard waste programs are for grass, leaves and brush. Sterling Heights, for example, lists animal feces as unacceptable yard waste, alongside dead animals, rocks and dirt. Check your own city's list, and when in doubt, it goes in the trash.

Why should dog poop never go down a storm drain?

Because storm drains aren't sewers. They carry rain, and whatever it picks up, to local lakes and streams.

Macomb County Public Works says never to dump pet waste down a storm drain or into a ditch, and warns that dog waste left outside washes into drains and ditches and heads straight to local lakes and streams. County Public Works also says all 475 county drains eventually carry storm water to Lake St. Clair. And the EPA calls pet waste a leading source of nutrient and bacteria pollution in urban streams. Our post on dog poop, storm drains and Lake St. Clair has the full story.

Leaving it on the lawn isn't disposal, either. The EPA lists the idea that dog waste is an all-natural fertilizer that will take care of itself among the misconceptions behind poor pet waste habits. It sticks around longer than you'd think, too: here's how long dog poop takes to decompose.

What should you do with dog poop on a walk?

Bag it and carry it to the next trash can, or home to yours. A bag left beside the trail is still litter, just with a knot on top.

Most Macomb County communities require pickup away from home. Sterling Heights (§8-11), for example, says waste your dog leaves anywhere other than your own property has to be picked up right away, and you must carry a bag or other pickup device when you walk your dog on property you don't own. Warren (Sec. 7-73) says to pick it up right away and dispose of it properly. Rules differ from town to town and change over time, so check our roundup of Macomb County dog poop laws and your community's current code.

The EPA's pet waste fact sheet suggests that communities install trash cans and pet waste stations and point people to them along walking routes and in parks, so a full bag never has to wait on the ground. Pack two bags anyway. The second one tends to get used.

What does Poopy Scoops do with the poop?

We double-bag it and put it in your outdoor trash can, the route the CDC and the county health department recommend. Rather not have it in your can? Add haul-away for $4 a visit and it leaves with us. You can add it when you get your price.

Either way, every visit follows the same routine. We text when we're on the way, walk the whole yard in a grid (corners, mulch beds and the fence line included), latch the gate and text you a gate-check photo. Our tools and boots are disinfected between yards, to help keep germs from the last yard from riding along to yours.

Managing an HOA, apartment or condo community? Our commercial service installs, stocks and empties pet waste stations, so residents always have a bag and a can close by.