Way back when I first became a cat owner, I disliked the fact that plastic cat litter boxes retain odors. So I was very happy to discover plastic litter liners, which were drawstring plastic bags used to line the box. When the litter needs changing, you just pulled the string and put it in the trash. Voila!
But that was years ago. These days, “disposable” plastic is my last choice since it doesn’t break down very well. Then my community introduced the “green bin” program so cat litter could join compostables rather than laying inert in plastic bags in the landfill.
But what about plastic litter liners?
Was there something bio-degradable? For a while I had been spending money buying doggy doo-doo bags made from cornstarch, because they were supposed to be biodegrable, even though they looked like plastic. My husband tried composting one of the bags in our back yard composter, but a year later, it hadn’t broken down at all. So I don’t have much faith in “compostable” cornstarch plastic bag replacements. So replacing plastic bags with something just as bad is no help at all.
But paper is biodegradable, so a thick paper bag — like a leaf bag — would be just the thing. I tried very hard to find litter pan liners made from paper, but even my local specialty pet store had never heard of such a thing. That left me no choice but to make my own. I decided to start with a paper leaf bag. Here in Ontario you can get these in grocery and hardware stores. I found the hardware store bags more durable.
Leaf Bag Make-Over → Litter Liner
Step 1: CUT the top off leaving the bag about twice as high as the litter pan.
Step 2: FOLD over the top, so it is about half again as tall as the litter pan.
Step 3: FOLD AGAIN a little more loosely this time. This makes a bit of a lip that can be shaped to fit the sides of the pan.
Step 4: CUT an extra piece from the paper that was cut off the top
Step 5: LINE THE BOTTOM of the bag for additional leak protection
Step 6: ADD LITTER and the Litter Box Cover if any.
When it’s time to change the litter, remove the litter box cover, and
Step 7: UNFOLD the sides of the bag and ROLL THE TOP TOGETHER
to keep the litter inside, then dispose of the bag in the green bin.
Green Bin photo from Wikipedia shared by NotYouHaha with a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
