Is there any way to have a bird while being "Zero-Waste?"

[cockatiel_and_conure]

"Zero-Waste" is a philosophy that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused. No trash is sent to landfills or incinerators. Basically, the goal is not to produce as much waste as possible. (Visit here for more if you're interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_waste
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYDQcBQUDpw"]You Can Live Without Producing Trash - YouTube[/ame])

I've been very interested in this topic recently, and I was wondering, for the future, if there's any ways I can go about this non-wasting lifestyle with a pet bird. Any suggestions?

 

[SailBoat]

So the cage is located over the toilet? And the other food waste is taken-out and placed in the composter?

 

[cockatiel_and_conure]

Hahaha, well, I mean, the compost thing can work, but with a parrot's waste I'm not sure of... In the video, they replaced paper towels with cotton towels, would it be sanitary for your bird to have cotton towels at the bottom of the cage, where normally newspaper or paper towels would be? Of course I'd wash the towels every other day to reuse them, but would it be safe for the bird?

 

[Kentuckienne]

(Looks at the floor around Gus's cage) Zero waste? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ....parrots are genetically made to waste food, it's how they help spread seeds. But cloth instead of paper seems iffy. One, you don't want to wash it with your clothing, just as you wouldn't wash baby diapers with the regular laundry. Germs can survive the wash/dry cycle. I guess if you use cloth diapers and get one of those diaper washing thingies...but even then...captive birds are so susceptible to infection, partly because they don't get the vigorous flying exercise of their wild brethren, and it would worry me to put possibly contaminated things in the cage. If you ask, neighbors will usually provide all the newspaper you would ever need for free, and since it's going to the landfill you would help by diverting it to the compost heap. This way you would be reducing someone else's waste stream, like a kind of environmental offset/credit...not true ZW but a step in that direction.

 

[cockatiel_and_conure]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking... That definitely sounds a lot more better (and safer), thanks! Though, if any other ideas come to mind, that'd be great as well.

 

[RavensGryf]

That's an.. um... very interesting concept! I think literally zero is impossible, as I can think of some pretty nasty things that just need to be thrown away lol.

Seriously though, I know your generation is very into "going green" and that's not a bad thing to see from younger people who will be the ones to inhabit this earth upcoming!

 

[BeatriceC]

There's more to consider than just what you're throwing away. Now granted, that's a big part of the picture, but it's not the whole picture. If you're using a washable lining that will have to be washed daily. Washing linens uses resources. At the very least you're using water and electricity, plus detergent (and all the resources it took to produce, ship, store, and sell said detergent to you). Even if you don't use a machine, you still have to pump water somehow, and municipal systems use electric pumps at some point along the line to get the water to you. Then you have to heat the water somehow. Whether you use gas or electricity depends on what kind of water heater you have. Using a dryer really isn't necessary, so you could ditch that use of energy.

All that said, keep in mind that none of this happens in a vacuum. Each choice you make has some sort of effect on the system as a whole. I try to live in a way that balances out my choices and conserves the most possible from *all* my resources, not just one (i.e. trash). Given the scenario you're thinking of, I can certainly come up with a variety of ways in which "no waste" in reference to just trash would be extremely wasteful in other ways, and on the whole, I don't think that would be the best choice.

 

[wrench13]

That would be a nearly impossible thing with a pet parrot. They waste so much in food, and being pooping machines. Although we have it down to 4 sheets of newspaper and 4 sheets of paper towel a day, I cant see reducing past that. We are lucky in that Salty is not a food flinger, so most of his discarded food goes right down into the big stainless bowl under his boing and main feeding station. ANd he generally poops from there too. Clean up involves changing the 4 sheets of paper towel, spraying the bowl with poop off or plain water, and replacing the paper towels. We do that once a day. He still manages to get wood chips and splinters from toys all over the place though. But he has taken a liking to chewing up the used paper towel rolls, so thats a plus in the 100% consumption direction/ no waste direction, right?

 

[Scott]

There's more to consider than just what you're throwing away. Now granted, that's a big part of the picture, but it's not the whole picture. If you're using a washable lining that will have to be washed daily. Washing linens uses resources. At the very least you're using water and electricity, plus detergent (and all the resources it took to produce, ship, store, and sell said detergent to you). Even if you don't use a machine, you still have to pump water somehow, and municipal systems use electric pumps at some point along the line to get the water to you. Then you have to heat the water somehow. Whether you use gas or electricity depends on what kind of water heater you have. Using a dryer really isn't necessary, so you could ditch that use of energy.

All that said, keep in mind that none of this happens in a vacuum. Each choice you make has some sort of effect on the system as a whole. I try to live in a way that balances out my choices and conserves the most possible from *all* my resources, not just one (i.e. trash). Given the scenario you're thinking of, I can certainly come up with a variety of ways in which "no waste" in reference to just trash would be extremely wasteful in other ways, and on the whole, I don't think that would be the best choice.

^^^^This!!^^^^

Zero waste is a laudable goal, but like the "perpetual energy machine" is not totally achievable. Kudos for striving for the lowest possible environmental impact; you are doing far more than most!!

 

[cockatiel_and_conure]

Thank you guys for your advice! I've just been wondering just the lowest possible way I can go about being eco-friendly with a feathered friend.

 

[P_Molinae]

I've been recently transitioning to this lifestyle as well. I've effectively replaced all paper products in the home, do most cooking from scratch, recycle everything, and compost when I can.

I have 2 small birds ( & ) and I think getting close to zero waste might be doable for them. Here are some of the ideas I have....

Cage Liner:

I have one of those small corner shaped cages. I do use newspaper right now, but I am thinking I will switch to folded up bed sheets, and leave it on one side until it's sufficiently pooped on, and then once that dries, flip it to the clean side. This should allow one or 2 weeks of use out of one bed sheet. (I don't know if this is practical for larger birds, or homes with more than 2 birds(=more poop)). I will take the sheet outside and see what dry poop I can flick off. Then soak the sheet in a small bucket of hot water and a little bit of Dawn soap(I figure it's bird safe if used on birds in oil spills). I'll air dry the sheet and replace with a clean one. This way I'm using minimal water/energy resources.


Food:

I feed them Roudybush Maintenance, and unfortunately, this does come in plastic bags. I buy the 10 lb bags to cut down on the amount of packaging I'm buying and the frequency with which I need to buy it. I have an airtight bin for storage that keeps the insects out of it. I have yet to find a way to reuse the Roudybush bags.

For fresh food, they usually get scraps of what I'm eating(with the exception of toxic foods), since I follow a healthy plant-based diet. I'll share my quinoa, fruits, and vegetables with them, and occasionally will buy them eggs from a local farm. all of this, including the pellet diet, is composted.

Mess on the floor:

I'll usually spot clean poop around the house and underneath the cage, with hot water and something acidic to break down the poop (lemon juice, vinegar). I will wipe it with a rag and rinse in the bathroom sink, reserving the kitchen sink only for food preparation. For seeds and other stuff they throw, I'll sweep it up and add it to the compost bin.

 

[charmedbyekkie]

I don't think many people are aware of options when it comes to being zero waste.


Cairo eats chop, so it's all fresh foods. I make sure to buy them unwrapped from the grocery store and from the wet market, and when I buy them, I put them into mesh reusable bags (unfortunately, we still have to get the sticker that says how much it weighed and how much it cost).

When I buy non-fresh foods, such as his dehydrated flowers and veggies, I buy those at an organic bulk food store and bring my own glass jars that used to be pasta jars.

I do bulk make his chop, which is a struggle for me in terms of waste. I am trying to slowly build up my Stasher bag collection (reusable silicon bags that can be frozen) (and I'm trying to buy secondhand). In the meantime, I wash and reuse the plastic ziplock bags until they start leaking (normally about 2-5 reuses).

However, I do small things like, when I strain the capsicums, I save the liquid and use it to make birdie bread.

Yes, Cairo doesn't eat all of his food, which actually works great for us. We put his leftover food into our vermicomposting bin, so the worms absolutely love all scraps of food from him. When I make his chop, I save the scraps (carrot peels, withered stalks, butternut squash skin, etc) and give to the worms.


In terms of his poop, we don't buy linings or anything like that - our neighbour gives us newspapers for free. (In Singapore, we don't really recycle - everything gets incinerated, so it's better to have a second use for something before it gets tossed.) My partner is hoping to compost the newspapers as well, but I've been asking to hold back on that (I know if you dry it properly it is safe to compost; however, I want us to get more confident with our composting and our vermicomposting first). Instead, I use the soiled newspapers to absorb any oils or wet meat-based food waste before we toss it out.

In terms of his poop outside the cage, he is potty trained, so he'll stick with one area that I can put newspapers underneath.


For overall cleaning, we have a Dyson, so I don't need to buy replacement vacuum cleaner bags - just pop open the bottom and dump it out. Even his feathers can be composted but I don't particularly care to.

With his cage and toys, I buy F10 concentrate, then just top up with self-dilution and reuse the same spray bottle.


In terms of bigger picture, we're expanding our gardening to include more edible stuff for Cairo, so we don't need to buy as much (less importing from overseas). When we go to fly him outdoors, the only sitting space is at Starbucks, so we bring our reusable cups to order drinks there. I do try to buy plastic toys secondhand (I feel more comfortable soaking them in strong F10). We don't have a proper cage cover for him, but we use a secondhand IKEA blanket instead. We buy his treats (almonds) in bulk and easily store them in tiny glass jars I repurposed from being hotel jam jars.


We're trying in small ways and slowly trying to find new ways to improve.

 

[Cardinal]

"Zero-Waste" is a philosophy that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused. No trash is sent to landfills or incinerators. Basically, the goal is not to produce as much waste as possible. (Visit here for more if you're interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_waste
You Can Live Without Producing Trash - YouTube)

I've been very interested in this topic recently, and I was wondering, for the future, if there's any ways I can go about this non-wasting lifestyle with a pet bird. Any suggestions?

Interesting question and philosophy to ponder on. Probably a planted aquarium is the only "pet" that comes very close if not near "zero waste". You can use the excess water for your garden and the only waste that is generated are the plastic containers in which your fish food comes from and the plastic covers that your maintenance equipment (filters, heaters etc) are packed in.

With birds, I am not sure but in terms of ecological footprint, a Zebra finch is much more eco friendly than cat. In fact the two most popular pets in the world may also be among the most waste producing- cats and dogs.

 

[LaManuka]

P_Molinae while I applaud the efforts you’re making to lessen the environmental impact of bird ownership, I don’t believe putting a sheet down and leaving it there for weeks at a time is such a great idea. Remember that it’s not just poop that will collect there but also food scraps, feathers, down/dander and miscellaneous waste. It would be most unhygienic (particularly in hot weather!), not to mention how irresistible it would be to ants, cockroaches, mice, possibly even rats, which in a worst case scenario may even harm your birds! So perhaps you could find other means to lessen your environmental impact than this particular idea?

 

[SailBoat]

P_Molinae while I applaud the efforts you’re making to lessen the environmental impact of bird ownership, I don’t believe putting a sheet down and leaving it there for weeks at a time is such a great idea. Remember that it’s not just poop that will collect there but also food scraps, feathers, down/dander and miscellaneous waste. It would be most unhygienic (particularly in hot weather!), not to mention how irresistible it would be to ants, cockroaches, mice, possibly even rats, which in a worst case scenario may even harm your birds! So perhaps you could find other means to lessen your environmental impact than this particular idea?

Great points, this and the other above Posts.

When Poop drys, in many cases, it powders and that powder lifts as the Parrot simply adjusts its wings. This naturally spreads the poop dust in the home. In addition to the dangers of dried Bird Waste, build-up of droppings over several weeks provides a wet source for bacteria and viruses to build and transfer. Occasional washing of a cloth liners increases your Zero-Waste foot print in the chemical load need to wash the liner, ie. water loaded waste stream.

Zero Waste is a Goal in which one judges where one form is more problematic than another. Point being, when obtainment of Zero Waste switches the Waste Stream to a solution that is worst than simply accepting the lesser of two evils.

 

[noodles123]

Maybe if you had an outdoor cage and grew a vegetable garden in/around the cage...and made all of your own food...haha...(jk)

I mean, they waste so much as it is, that you would have to find a way to 1) produce your own food and 2) compost any paper/dropped food and then wash the cage out all of the time (unless you could compost paper towels)

You need to clean up after the birds poop often--- leaving it around is harmful for you and your bird. It can lead to disease, and long-term, things like "bird-keepers lung" in people..Also bad for your bird and can increase infections etc. Letting the sheet sit for even a week is a long time.

You could try using plastic carpet runners instead (which could be wiped clean) but even then, you are dealing with plastic.

 

[Nohora]

Thank you guys for your advice! I've just been wondering just the lowest possible way I can go about being eco-friendly with a feathered friend.

I cut his food's plastic bags the same size of his cage's trays and every time I clean the cage (and the room,since many times Rorro throws food everywhere,) I place the wasted food on our compost, where birds, squirrels and other creatures come to eat those, others start germinating.
With the plastic liners, I wash them and disinfect them at least once a day (or more if needed) and he always has a clean cage.

 

[bigfellasdad]

Yes, of course!

I reuse newspaper etc for the bottom of Enzo's cage and other than food I cont really buy her anything. I even use the chewed up wood she loves to shred when I light fires i the backgarden to burn all of that plastic waste i have (kidding!)