Can you compost dog poop?

Technically yes. Practically, almost nobody should, and it is worth knowing why before you start a bin you will have to abandon.

The temperature problem

Composting kills pathogens with heat. For dog waste the threshold usually cited is around 145 degrees Fahrenheit, sustained, for several days.

A well-managed backyard compost pile gets to perhaps 130 to 140 at its hottest point, in the middle, for a while. The edges are cooler. Most home piles never get close, and the ones that do are being actively managed by somebody turning them on a schedule with the right carbon-to-nitrogen balance.

If the pile does not hit temperature, the pathogens do not die. Roundworm eggs in particular are remarkably durable and survive conditions that kill most other things.

What is in there

The reason this matters more than for vegetable scraps is the organism list. Dog waste can carry roundworm, hookworm, whipworm, giardia, salmonella and E. coli. Roundworm eggs can remain viable in soil for years.

Compost that has not reached temperature is a way of concentrating that in one spot and then distributing it.

Never on food crops

Even properly composted dog waste should not go on anything you eat. This is the consistent recommendation from every extension service that addresses it, and the margin for error is not worth a tomato.

If you compost it successfully, it goes on ornamentals, lawns and trees.

If you are determined to do it

A dedicated bin, separate from your kitchen compost, with no crossover of tools.

A proper carbon source mixed in, sawdust or dry leaves, at roughly two parts carbon to one part waste.

A thermometer, and a willingness to actually use it rather than assume.

Turning on a schedule, and a full year of curing after the active phase before it goes anywhere.

That is a real hobby, not a convenience.

The in-ground digester option

The other approach people try is a digester, essentially a small septic unit buried in the yard that you drop waste into with an enzyme packet. They work moderately well in warm weather and well-draining soil, and they stop working in winter, which in Missouri is a meaningful fraction of the year. They also need to go somewhere away from vegetable beds and well away from any water source.

What most people actually do

Bag it and put it in the household trash, which goes to a landfill. It is not elegant and it is the standard answer for a reason: it removes the material from your property and from contact with soil.

That is what we do. Everything we collect goes in a bag, tied, into the customer’s outdoor can, and out with their regular collection. We have looked at the alternatives and none of them improve on it for a residential yard.