Why is litter not being sold in plastic buckets anymore?

Does anyone here know why Scoop Away and Fresh Step are now selling their cat litters in cardboard boxes rather than in the plastic buckets? I am really ticked off about this. The local recycling center does not accept the cardboard boxes but they accept the plastic buckets. So now I have to throw all this cardboard in the trash. It seems like we're going backwards here. The idea is to recycle stuff, not throw it in the trash. I don't know why these companies can't sell the litter in both the cardboard and plastic buckets. Then people could just buy the one that they can recycle.

Yeah it does seem a little backwards. My aunt and uncle buy the big buckets of Scoop Away from Costco. I guess they won't be able to anymore

I suppose it was for someone like me who bought a plastic bucket like once a year and refilled my plastic bucket with the litter from the cardboard boxes. Every now and then I'd buy another bucket and I actually use them as real buckets for cleaning stuff nowadays... what can I say I'm poor.

I feel fortunate that my recycling accepts both the cardboard and the plastic boxes. In fact I use the cardboard box to hold all my other paper goods for recycling..works out well!

They now have the really big litters in soft plastic bag containers with neat handles that make them easy to carry.

I would think that overall cardboard is the "greener" container. Unfortunately not everyone recycles, so when the containers go to landfills, cardboard does break down whereas plastic never does. I would also think it's cheaper to package in cardboard.

That's just a couple of guesses though. I'm lucky in that I can recycle anything that is recyclable.

Originally Posted by clixpix

I would think that overall cardboard is the "greener" container. Unfortunately not everyone recycles, so when the containers go to landfills, cardboard does break down whereas plastic never does. I would also think it's cheaper to package in cardboard.

That's just a couple of guesses though. I'm lucky in that I can recycle anything that is recyclable.

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If they are cutting costs I wonder if they will pass that cost cut onto you guys?? Over here most our litter comes in paper bags which tear really easily :-( x

I use Tidy Cats Small Spaces, and that still comes in a plastic bucket. I dont think the 40lb does, but I've been getting the 27lb ones and filling an old 35lb bucket with it. Our recycling center luckily accepts cardboard and plastic though so even if TC stops selling plastic we wont have to throw it in the trash.

Because cardboard breaks down in a landfill and plastic buckets do not. The majority of people do not recycle.

Still, I don't like the new packaging the for Fresh Step at Costco - it's not cardboard, it's plastic wrap and one of my cats eats plastic, so I haven't figured out what I am going to do about that. So for now I have 2 40# bags in my car. lol

I wondered why I could only find our usual litter in cardboard boxes. There was one brand in a plastic tub but not the brand we use. It actually was cheaper but may have just been a sale. I usually pay 12.99 and got it for 8.99.

The local gorcery store I buy my litter at well I have been buying the tody cat in the 40 pound cardboard boxes for a long time. I can recycle them too so its not an issue.

How bizarre you can't recycle cardboard, over here our recycle bins are almost double the size of our normal rubbish bin.

Originally Posted by missymotus

How bizarre you can't recycle cardboard

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It really varies from area to area, town to town. Cities will often have more options and even require some recycling.
Where I live, there's nothing - well, if you're a big business you can get a few tons of cardboard picked up for you and there's some recycling for used pallats, but that's it.

As said by others, at least cardboard breaks down in landfills. I saved all of my plastic buckets from when I use to buy clay litters.
If one looks around enough, though, I'm sure you could find some sort of plastic storage container that would work - maybe even something with wheels on it. And if anyone needs cheap cleaning buckets, try looking in the automotive section at any store.

I use a large Petco brand cat litter bucket for my litter after they had a great deal on their litter(which was useless, thankfully it was for the outside cats or the lack of odor control would have killed me, heck it still almost did, I told Paul under no circumstances was he to use it for Maude, who was the only one inside at the time.)

The bucket is just easier for me to handle than the boxes, not to mention it's easier to add more litter to the boxes.

I don;t like the cardboard boxes, just too hard for me to handle and to add more litter to the boxes.

Taryn

Originally Posted by Taryn

I don;t like the cardboard boxes, just too hard for me to handle and to add more litter to the boxes.

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As I suggested, if all you can get is boxed/bagged litter, dump it into a bucket or storage container. I use chicken feed that comes in big 45lb bags, which are definitely not easy to handle. I just dump the bags into two old 35lb tidy cat buckets.

In Indianapolis we can still buy all brands of kitty litter in big plastic buckets-37lbs. In our grocery stores and Petsmart.I bought a large bucket of Tidy Cat yesterday.

we can still buy litter out Wal-Mart in big plastic buckets, but the boxes are substantially cheaper.

Right now though we do need the buckets, because we cracked a couple of our old ones and we reuse them for quite a few different things.