First off, I’ll admit this post has a limited audience. If you don’t have a cat, just skip on to the next blog entry. However, if you do have an indoor (or semi-indoor) cat, let me pass on some handy information.

Back in the day, there was only one kind of cat litter, a clay litter that was incredibly dusty and didn’t clump around urine. My job as a teenager was to scoop the litter box twice a day and to change out the litter weekly. I hated that chore. Fortunately, clumping litter was developed, which cut down on how often I had to change the litter, since I could scoop out the majority of the waste and leave a relatively clean litter box. It is still very dusty, because the clumping litter is still clay-based. To produce it, companies strip mine clay deposits (energy-intensive and an environmental nightmare), then transport it to a factory where it is dried (more energy!) and packaged. Just in terms of production, clay-based clumping litter is red, it’s so not green.

Fortunately, there are much greener options. People have figured out how to use several waste products for litter, including pine chips, wheat stalks, and corn waste. You might have to pay a little more and figure out who stocks it, but you might be surprised where it has turned up recently. SWheat Scoop is a wheat-based product, while Yesterday’s News is pellets made from recycled newspaper. Feline Pine is pretty self-explanatory, while my personal favorite is Arm & Hammer’s Essentials, which is made from corn waste and has some baking soda goodness built right in. Not only is Essentials almost dust-free, it’s carried at my local mega-big-box store, so I can get it easily. I can even delude myself into thinking there’s a processing plant somewhere nearby, since we’re surrounded by cornfields.

Short of a cat-litter disposal fairy with a magic wand, this is about as green as cat poo gets! Yes, I still have to put the litter in the landfill stream, but at least the litter source is low-impact. Little steps, right? That track litter all over the house…