How dog chow becomes plant chow.

Cleaning up pet poop is the least-liked chore associated with pet ownership.

Several surveys indicate that 60%–70% of dog owners claim to clean up after their dogs most or all of the time, leaving 30%–40% of pet owners who rarely or never do.

Why not bury or compost it? Because pet waste is raw sewage. It's been estimated that for a 20-square-mile watershed draining into a coastal bay, a population of 100 dogs would drop enough fecal matter within two to three days to temporarily close a bay to shell-fishing and swimming.1

More than 20 tons of dog waste is dropped in this county every day, carrying E. coli, Giardia, fecal coliform and other harmful micro-organisms. Most creeks and streams fails water quality standards due to fecal coliform bacteria found in pet waste.

Surveys indicate the largest barrier to scooping are misconceptions that dog waste is a fertilizer that is good for the environment...closely followed by the ‘ickiness’ factor.3

Pathogens in dog poop don't break down when buried or composted through traditional means. But thanks to Larry Green, MD, PhD, and his pet waste fermentation invention, the Bokashi Pet Cycle™,  it is possible to convert your pet's poop into plant fertilizer that is good for the environment.

A Bokashi Pet Cycle™is easy to use it almost makes me want to pick up after my dogs more often! (Okay, that's a stretch.)

In several weeks, after the microbes have done their job, the resulting sludge will make my plants happy. I'll never buy Miracle Gro® again.

There are just a few simple steps after collecting the goods:

1. Pick a shady spot to keep your fermenters.

2. Add 2 gallons of water plus 1 cup of accelerant to the first fermenter.

3. Add pet waste.


4. Sprinkle 3 teaspoons of culture mix on top. Screw the lid on tight. Each time you add more waste, spray on a little accelerant and sprinkle a little culture mix.

5. After I scoop enough poop to fill the first container, I'll start the same process in the second. Once the second is full, I'll pour the contents of the first in a trench in the ground. After it sits for two weeks I'll scoop up that microb-rich soil and add it to my ornamental gardens. It's so simple.  

1United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). (1993); cited in Center for Watershed Protection.(2000).


3Holland, N. (2006). Public Outreach Coordinator, Tampa Bay Estuary Program. Personal communication, August 25, 2006.