So, we have two giant Labradors- they’re adorable, but they are 200lbs of dog who eat 30lbs of dog food a week, and put out quite a bit of dog doo in our yard. We tried composting it traditionally (above ground in a mesh-type composter) but we needed it to decompose faster. You can buy commercial kits, but we were unable to find anything as big as we were hoping for (we made a 30-gallon bin) and the 10-gallon systems are easily $50-60+ online. Onto the interwebs for inspiration, and a Saturday project later, we have a working doggy doo waste bin for about $41.

To do this project we used a large heavy-duty plastic garbage bin with lid, some rocks (we bought a bag of river rock), and some septic tank bacteria solution.

1) First, we cleared an area where we wanted the doggy doo bin, at least ten feet away from the vegetable garden. We chose an area under some bushes where it wasn’t easily visible, but still right near the yard for easy waste disposal.

2) Marmot dug a hole, deep and wide enough that the garbage bin can sit in it, but not so deep that we can’t still get the lid on.

2) We  cut the bottom out of the garbage bin, although you can always drill holes in the bottom too.

3) We put the bin in the hole, and packed the dirt around it, building up towards the top.

4) Poured the rock into the bottom.

5) And then added doggy doo! I’ll spare you a picture of that, and highlight one of our adorable doggy doo suppliers instead.

6) Last step was adding some septic tank bacteria solution, which we’ll do about once a month. The bottle we bought is enough for a 500-gallon septic tank, so with a 30-gallon bin we’re thinking the bottle should last over a year.

And ta-da, we have a great doggy doo composter that will allow the doggy doo to degrade and be absorbed back into the soil!

With the heavy-duty garbage bin ($31.99), river rock ($2.59), and septic treatment solution ($6.99), our total was $41.57.