Big Dog Poop Composter (made From Salvaged Materials)

With garbage dumps becoming full it has become very important to find an alternative to simply tossing your pet's waste into the trash. I have always liked the idea of composting my pet's waste, but didn't want to add it to my garden compost. That is why I decided to build a separate composter specifically for doggy doo. I had originally planned to purchase a dog waste composter, but quickly realized that I need a much bigger one than is on the market in order to handle all of the waste from my 70 lb. Labrador Retriever. Big dog, Big poop, Big composter. I decided to create this Instructable to help others deal with their pets waste in an environmentally sound manner.

Tools & Materials: All that you will need to build a waste composter is a shovel, a saw, a drill, 4" pvc pipe, and a vessel of some sort.

First find your vessel. I decided to use a salvaged plastic 55-gallon barrel and give it a third life. A 5-gallon bucket or a trash can would work if you have a small dog. Rather than recycling the barrel I simply reused it. I got it from our local coffee roaster and used it as a leaf composter for a couple years. Be careful that you don't use a barrel that may have had toxic chemicals in it. Mine used to be full of French vanilla flavoring. That stuff is fairly harmless.

I have also entered this Instructable in the Epilog Challenge, so please remember to vote.

Step 1: Preparing the Vessel

Take your vessel and drill holes everywhere except the top and bottom. Any bit size ranging between 1/4-inch and 3/4-inch will suffice. The holes need to be large enough to allow air to reach your composter, but not large enough to allow soil to fall through.

If you are using a barrel you will need to cut the top off. The open end will become the bottom of the compster. This will increase the surface area that is exposed to the soil and allow rain water to drain easily.

Next cut a circular hole into what will be the top of your composter. I cut a 4-inch hole into mine because I decided to use a 4-inch inside diameter (ID) pvc pipe as the access port for my composter. It's good to have a hole large enough to allow the dog waste to fall into the vessel without the need of a push-stick. The 4-inch ID pvc fits perfectly over the 4-inch hole without the danger of falling in. I was able to find a waste cut piece of pipe that was headed for the dumpster.

Step 2: Dig It

Next you need to choose the location for your composter and get to digging. An ideal place would be easy to dig, accessible, yet tucked away, and at least a couple hundred feet from any wells.

This is the most difficult step. Dig a hole large enough to fit the composter into it and deep enough to bury it a foot or so underground. Keeping the composter below the ground level will help keep it from freezing as easily during winter. Be sure to keep the topsoil separate from the rest of the soil.

When the hole is dug try the vessel for fit. Put a straight edge over the hole in order to get an accurate depth measurement. This measurement is needed to calculate the required pipe length.

Step 3: Access Port

Cut the pipe a few inches longer than the measurement made in the previous step. Place the pipe over the hole and carefully back fill the hole with topsoil. You could also use an old plastic planter or something of that sort rather than a pipe.

After back filling the hole the only part of the composter showing will be the stickup portion of the pipe. I plan to put a rubber cap on the pipe to help control any odors. You now have a pet waste composter that is large enough to handle the waste from a big dog and yet safe. Unlike other designs that I have seen, nobody will be able to fall into this one. Job well done.

Step 4: Drop the Poop

Now the fun begins! The composter is complete and ready to be put to use. If you are using corn starch based bags you can simply drop the bag into the composter, if not you will need to put the poop in without the bag. Adding small amounts of grass clippings will aid decomposition. Some folks recommend adding products such as Cesspool Treatment and Rid-X. I do not, the same bacteria that are in those products are naturally occurring in grass clippings. I design wastewater systems for a living and would not recommend such products even for your home system.

It should be quite some time before this composter besomes full. When the composter is full I can simply take the topsoil off the top and pull the barrel out of the hole. At this point I can either use the compost as lawn fertilizer or simply bury it. Either way we have already helped preserve a little bit of our precious environment.