So, how to compost dog poop? Composting your pet’s poop at home is an excellent way to create even more nutrient-rich fertiliser for your garden soil, super-charging everything you grow within it.

It’s something we do with our two little dogs and it’s surprisingly easy – although, depending on what type of pet you have, some extra steps and care are required.

If you’re new to composting generally, our Beginners Guide to Composting is a good place to start for all the basics on how to turn your food scraps, paper, gardening prunings, autumn leaves and whatever else into nutrient-rich humus that we all know as ‘compost’.

And just like food scraps, pet poop contains valuable nutrients that can be turned into compost too.

Firstly – waste from omnivorous or carnivorous animals such as dogs and cats, for example, may carry harmful pathogens that can make you sick if they get on your food. So we never use this kind of compost on our veggie patch – instead, it’s best for orchards, flowerbeds and ornamentals.

However – throwing it ‘away’ isn’t a great idea – like food scraps, pet waste thrown into landfill causes a heap of not-great environmental outcomes…

So! Since we’re taking responsibility for what we can, here… let’s take a closer look at how to safely recycle your pet’s poo into compost, so you can put this rich resource to use within your own patch –

The harmful impacts of pet waste in landfill:

Throwing pet poop ‘away’ isn’t a great idea – like food scraps, pet waste thrown into landfill causes a heap of extremely-not-great environmental outcomes – even if you’re using so-called ‘biodegradable’ poop bags.

Trapped in a giant pile of other waste, your pet’s poop is starved of the oxygen needed to break down safely. So it becomes anaerobic and belches out potent greenhouse gases including methane, which is 25 times more harmful to our atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

Flushing pet waste down the toilet causes problems too. Most wastewater treatment systems aren’t designed to remove the parasites pets carry, so they get discharged into our waterways.

Kitty litter flushed down your toilet may also swell up and block sewer pipes, or even the pipes in your own home, which can be messy and costly to fix.

So! Since we’re all about taking responsibility for what we can, rather than outsourcing problems here… time to lean what to do with it, yes?

The benefits of composted pet poo:

By composting your pet’s poop, you sidestep all of these harmful impacts and instead turn your ‘waste’ into a valuable resource that’s actually good for our planet.

Correctly composted pet poo becomes a rich natural fertiliser, full of organic matter, which feeds your soil and in turn leads to healthy, thriving plants. Oh, and it helps sequester carbon and keeps ecosystems and climate healthier, too.

How to compost rabbit & guinea pig poop

Composting manure from herbivores (animals that only eat plants) is really simple – you just add it to your usual composting situation or worm farm.

This matured compost is safe to be used anywhere in your garden, including on your veggie patch.

Check out our Beginners Guide to Composting for full details on how to set up a normal composting system, including a list of what you can use as carbon elements to balance out the nitrogen in your animal’s poop.

You can also process herbivore waste along with your own food scraps in a worm farm – our Beginners Guide to Worm Farming article will help you get started.

How to compost dog poop (and cat!) – two options

When it comes to manure from omnivores and carnivores (animals that eat some or only meat), you need to take a bit more care with composting your pets poo.

You can’t just throw cat poo into your main compost pile, or dig dog poo straight into your veggie garden. This is because poo from omnivorous and carnivorous animals, such as dogs and cats, may contain harmful bacteria and parasites that can make you sick.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t safely compost and use dog and cat poo at home! You just need to create a system completely separate from any other compost situations you might have going on.

So let’s look at two options that are great for different reasons in different contexts – the separate compost bin and the separate worm farm.

Note: ‘compostable’ pet poo bags aren’t always actually compostable, and even if they are, they slow things down. So – first find out in your bags ARE actually compostable, and if they’re not, make the switch. Then – as Florence and the Machine says – shake it out. Lastly, add your compostable pet poo bag to that same compost or worm farm, separately.

Option 1: The pet waste-only compost bin system

Set yourself up with two black compost bins that sits directly atop the soil – they’re easy to source and super simple to use. Choose a location that’s separate from your annual veggie patch; under your fruit trees or in the non-edible part of your garden is good.

Designate these as your ‘pet poo bins’: the only spot you’ll add your dog or cat poo. Keeping them separate means they won’t accidentally interact with your other compost at any point.

Compost produced from this pet waste-only bin system won’t be suitable for use on your veggie patch. But it will be great for fertilising fruit trees and non-edible plantings.

• To start, put down a 15cm layer of carbon – things like shredded paper, sawdust, dried autumn leaves, etc. (See our Composting For Beginners guide for a full list of carbon options.)
• Start adding your pet poop as needed. For every load of poo, add twice the volume of carbon. Eg, if you put in one good poop, add in two handfuls of carbon materials too.
• Having an extra watertight bin of carbon is ideal
• Water each layer as you go to help things break down more quickly.
• Once the bin is full, leave it to mature for six months (as with manure from any omnivore).
• Start the same process with the second bin.
• Once ‘Bin One’ has been sitting there for 6 months, most (if not all) pathogen cycles should be broken – so tip it out, and use this compost on ornamental plantings, and in your orchard – it’s still soil and worm food gold!
• Repeat process, swapping between the bins every six months.

Option 2: The pet waste-only worm farm

Similarly, you could create a separate worm farm to process your dog and cat poop – yes, worms will eat your pet waste! This is an excellent small-space gardening option.

Choose a worm farm system that’s contained so it doesn’t touch the soil, which helps prevent any possible cross-contamination with parasites that may be in your pet’s poo. 

Compost produced from this pet waste-only worm farm won’t be suitable for use on your veggie patch. But it will be great for fertilising fruit trees and non-edible plantings.

• Follow the steps in our How to Build a Worm Farm article – only, instead of food scraps, you’re going to be adding pet waste.
• Position your worm farm out of direct sunlight. Worms like the same temperature range as humans – they’ll be most productive at around 15-30 degrees Celsius, or 59-86 degrees Fahrenheit. Too cold, and they’ll eat far less. Too hot, and they may die.
• Source compost worms such as red wrigglers (Lumbicus rubellus) and tiger worms (Eisenia fetida) from your local nursery, friends or community garden. Unlike the common earthworm, compost worms love a nitrogen-rich environment so you don’t need to regularly add carbon (a bit of carbon is fine, though).
• Simply add pet poo to your worm farm as you need to, covering it with a woollen blanket, hessian sack or cardboard afterwards to ensure it’s not exposed. The worms will do the rest!
• Your worms will slowly continue to travel upward in search of food, leaving behind trays of rich worm castings, with worm juice dripping out the bottom. You can harvest both of these rich resources to use in your garden.

Never use composted dog & cat poop in your veggie garden! Here’s how to use it instead…

It’s really important to remember that compost made with dog and cat waste simply can’t be used in or near any food gardens – it could pose a danger to your health.

Cats are the only definitive hosts for the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which can cause Toxoplasmosis, an infection that is dangerous to foetuses, and native wildlife. This parasite can’t be eradicated through home composting.

While dogs aren’t Toxoplasma gondii hosts, they can still be infected by it. Plus, some parasites and bacteria in dog waste – including E. coli, salmonella and several types of worms such as ringworm and tapeworm – can live in the soil for years.

But… even though your composted dog or cat poo isn’t great (like, at all) for your veggies, it’s still beneficial for your soil and a great resource, if used in the right spot.

Once it has finished composting, bury your mature cat or dog poo compost in your orchard beneath fruit trees, or within ornamental garden beds. Then add a thick layer of mulch on top. This reduces the likelihood of local wildlife being exposed to it.

And in future, when gardening in this spot, wear gloves and wash your hands thoroughly with soap afterwards. 

Worming your pets? Don’t compost their manure for a week afterwards

A word of warning – if you have used ‘de-worming’ medication on your pets, this can kill the earthworms and other helpful life in your compost bin or worm farm, too.

So, it’s best to wait a week after worming before adding any new poo to your composting system.

What to do with your pet’s waste in those three days? If your council offers an organic waste collection, you can add pet waste to this green bin. Wrap it in some newspaper or a compostable bag first to help prevent unpleasant smells.

The high heat generated during the council’s commercial composting process kills pathogens, meaning compost made from green bin waste is safe to use in all areas of the garden, including veggie patches.

Other pet poo composting tips and tricks

Choose compostable kitty litter

Kitty litter made from stone, clay or crystals/silica is not compostable and must be placed into landfill – which we’re trying to avoid!

Instead, choose kitty litter made from 100% paper, sawdust or wood pellets. These break down quickly and also help add some carbon to your compost system.

If you have access to dry sawdust, you can even make your own natural kitty litter. This will break down much more quickly compared to shop-bought litter products.

Check that your pet poo bags are actually compostable

If your pet’s poo is sealed in a completely compostable poo bag, you should still be able to add it to your compost, bag and all. (It probably can’t be added to your worm farm though.)

But note that the compostability of these bags varies between brands, and some are more dodgy than others.

Bags labelled ‘degradable’ or ‘biodegradable’ are very often just plastic bags subjected to green-washed marketing. They won’t turn into soil in your compost, but they may break down into even smaller pieces of plastic (not good).

So do your research and find the most compostable bags possible!

Off-the-shelf pet poo composting solutions:

• EnsoPet Poo Composter – kinda a bokashi system
• The SubPod folks make a Pet Poo Compost System
• The Tumbleweed Pet Poo worm farm system is prettymuch a worm tower, but looks effective for small pets

More resources

• This article is a resource from our Organic Vegetable Gardening course – to get your whole garden started
• How to Compost At Home: A Beginner’s Guide – our full how-to article that will get you creating great home compost in no time.
• The Beginner’s Guide to Worm Farms – watch the Milkwood video and expand your composting repertoire.
• Want to compost your dog or cat poo too? – a fab video tutorial by Green Hub.
• The Pet Poo Pocket Guide: How to Safely Compost & Recycle Pet Waste book by Rose Seemann.
• The Compost Coach – great book on all things compostable, by Kate Flood
• And you can browse through all our articles on composting and nutrient cycling.

Alrighty, lovely – time to turn that dog poop into nutrient-rich compost! Any questions on how to compost dog poop (or any other poop, actually), please let us know in the comments below, we’re here to help.