BIODEGRADABLE AND COMPOSTABLE DOG WASTE MATERIALS AND METHOD FOR USING SAME

Abstract

A biodegradable and compostable sheet of material for picking up and disposing of dog excrement in an environmentally friendly manner. The sheet comprises paper or paperboard that is made grease resistant. The sheets may be stored in individual sheets or on an elongated sheet that may be folded and rolled for use with dispensing units.

In operation, a user grabs or tears off an individual sheet and then places the sheet over the dog excrement so that it is located generally about the sheet's center. The corners or top edges of the sheet may then be grasped and rotated in a direction opposite of the rotation of the central section so that a twist end is formed to retain the dog excrement within a sack. The sack may then be disposed of in a trash can or composter, wherein it will degrade in an environmental safe way.

Claims

1. An elongated sheet of biodegradable and compostable material for picking up and disposing of dog waste in an environmentally friendly way comprising: weakened areas along the elongated sheet of material for separating the elongated sheet of material into individual sheets for use; a paper layer having a contact side and a grasping side; and a biodegradable and compostable grease resistant layer directly applied to the contact side.

2. The sheet of material of claim 1 wherein the grease resistant layer comprises a coating comprising corn.

3. The sheet of material of claim 1 wherein the grease resistant layer comprises a coating comprising protein.

4. The sheet of material of claim 1 wherein the grease resistant layer is applied to both the contact side and the grasping side.

5. The sheet of material of claim 1 wherein the sheet is substantially square shaped.

6. (canceled)

7. (canceled)

8. The sheet of material of claim 1 wherein the weakened areas comprise perforations.

9. The sheet of material of claim 1 wherein the paper layer comprises a Kraft paper.

10. The sheet of material of claim 1 wherein the paper layer comprises unbleached softwood pulp.

11. A method of disposing of dog waste in an environmentally friendly way comprising the steps of: grabbing a biodegradable and compostable individual sheet of material comprised of a paper layer having a contact side, a grasping side, and an outer edge portion, the contact side being resistant; grasping the individual sheet of material about a center portion of the grasping side; placing the individual sheet of material over the dog waste; grabbing the dog waste with the contact side of the individual sheet of material and forming a pocket surrounding the dog waste; grabbing the individual sheet of material about the outer edge portion and twisting the pocket and outer edge portion relative to one another to close off the pocket; and disposing of the individual sheet of material with the dog waste contained within the pocket therein.

12. (canceled)

13. (canceled)

14. The method of claim 11 wherein both the contact side and the grasping side are grease resistant.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the individual sheet of material is substantially square shaped.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of grabbing the individual sheet of material comprises the step of tearing off the individual sheet of material from an a portion of the elongated sheet of material.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the elongated sheet of material has weakened areas for separating the elongated sheet of material into individual sheets of material for use.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the weakened areas comprise perforations.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein the paper layer comprises a Kraft paper.

20. The method of claim 11 wherein the paper layer comprises unbleached softwood pulp.

21. (canceled)

22. A method of manufacturing a sheet of biodegradable, compostable and grease-resistant material for picking up and disposing of dog waste in an environmentally friendly way comprising the steps: providing a biodegradable and compostable paper pulp; removing moisture from the paper pulp; forming an elongated sheet of grease-resistant, biodegradable and compostable paper from the paper pulp; and cutting the elongated sheet of paper into smaller sheets of paper.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the smaller sheets of paper are individual squares of paper for picking up and disposing of dog waste.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein the smaller sheets of paper are smaller elongated sheets of paper for forming rolls of individual sheets of paper.

25. The method of claim 24 which further comprises the step of forming weakened areas along the smaller elongated sheets of paper for separating the smaller elongated sheets of paper into the individual sheets of paper for use.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] FIG. 1 is top view of one embodiment of the present invention in elongated sheet form.

[0014] FIG. 2 is a top view of one embodiment of an individual sheet of the present invention.

[0015] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the sheet of FIG. 2.

[0016] FIG. 4 is a side elevation view of the elongated sheet in FIG. 1 in folded form.

[0017] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of folded elongated sheet from FIG. 4 in rolled form.

[0018] FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating the use of the present invention to pick up dog waste.

[0019] FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating the twisting of the sheet from FIG. 6.

[0020] FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating the filled twisted sheet of FIG. 7 being thrown away.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0021] While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail several specific embodiments, with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered merely an exemplification of the principles of the invention and the application is limited only to the appended claims.

[0022] FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of the present invention in the form of an elongated sheet 10. While it is appreciated that the width of the sheets may be of a variety of sizes sufficient to allow for the collection and disposal of dog excrement, preferred embodiments may utilize a width of 12 or 15 inches. The length of the elongated sheet may be a variety of lengths, but is preferred to be between about 12 and 15 feet to allow it to be rolled and stored in known dispensing units (not shown).

[0023] The material for the sheet is biodegradable and compostable. In one embodiment, the material may be a paper or paperboard product 12 coated with a biodegradable grease resistant layer 14. The paper layer may be made from a variety of materials including but not limited to, Kraft paper or recycled, unbleached sheets made from a softwood pulp. The grease resistant coating may be made from a variety of biodegradable materials including proteins or corn. The grease resistant coating may be utilized on the contact side of the paper to prevent any liquids or other materials from the dog excrement from seeping through the paper onto a consumer's hand. It is also appreciated that both the contact side and grasping side of the paper may be coated with the grease resistant layer. Using a corn or protein grease resistant layer allows the entire sheet to still be biodegradable and compostable, but strong enough for efficient and clean use of the product to collect dog excrement.

[0024] It is also appreciated that the paperboard product may be made grease resistant through the manufacturing process. For example, use of a Yankee dryer or other pressure vessel can remove moisture from paper pulp or the paper product to make the finished paper product more resistant to liquids or grease seeping therethrough. An example of a paper product having grease resistant properties formed using a pressure vessel is Acadia Natural manufactured by Twin Rivers Paper Company.

[0025] Referring again to FIG. 1, the elongated sheet 10 may be divided into individual smaller sheets 30 through perforations or other weakened areas 20. Alternatively, the elongated sheet 10 may have no perforations or weakened areas and simply be torn at desired lengths. In order to facilitate the twisting and storage processes, the individual sheets are preferably squares, but may be rectangular if desired. It also is appreciated that the individual sheets may be stored in stacked form similar to a ream of paper for individual use.

[0026] The elongated sheet 10 may be folded and rolled into a condensed roll 40 for use in connection with known dog waste collector dispensing units (not shown). In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, an elongated sheet having a width of 12 inches is folded over onto itself 5 times, resulting in a six-layer sheet having a width of about 2 inches.

[0027] In operation, a user pulls on the end of the elongated sheet 10 of material from a dispenser and tears off an individual sheet 30 using perforation 20. As shown in FIG. 6, the user then grasps the sheet around the middle with one fingers extended and spread apart a distance sufficient to encompass the dog excrement. Once all of the dog excrement is picked up and contained within a pocket or sack formed by the user's hand, as shown in FIG. 7, the user may grab the corners or about the edges of the sheet 30 with his or her other hand and rotate or twist his or her hands in opposite directions to form a small sack with the dog excrement therewithin. It is appreciated, that one of the hands may stay relatively stationary while the other hand rotates part of the sheet to form the twist end. Referring to FIG. 8, the sack may then be disposed of in the garbage or composter, wherein both the formed sack and contents will degrade in an environmentally safe way.

[0028] It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. It will be appreciated that the present disclosure is intended as an exemplification of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiment illustrated and described. The disclosure is intended to cover, by the appended claims, all such modifications as fall within the scope of the claims.