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Your cat litter box will thank you nuts packaging machine
The Spruce Pets / Amelia Manley
There are a lot of ways to tamp down cat litter smells, whether that’s purchasing odor-absorbing litter or using liners in your litter box to simplify cleaning. But often overlooked is how you dispose of scooped litter. Many people scoop litter directly into their wastebasket, which can get stinky fast. Cat litter bags let you seal away scents and can make it easier to move clumps of litter from your cat litter box to the trash can.
Cat litter bags come in a variety of sizes with a range of features, including scented and unscented versions. Some are biodegradable. Our favorite cat litter bags are Boxiecat Scoop & Tie Cat Litter Waste Bags. They’ve got a big opening for easy scooping, tie-off handles, and a quick-dispense box.
Box has perforated opening for easy dispensing
Relatively shallow, so most appropriate for regular scoopers
Boxiecat Scoop & Tie Cat Litter Waste Bags are durable—we’ve filled them to the brim without a tear. This makes them excellent for handling wet waste, with no leaks in our testing. They also have handles, which makes carrying and tying them up easier. Each bag is individually separated, rather than being on a roll, so there’s no risk of ripping or bad perforations.
We’ve tried them and found them suitable for regular scooping with two cats. While the opening is large enough for most scoops, they’re not deep enough to hold several days of waste. Instead, these bags are best for people who keep up regular maintenance of their litter box.
Boxiecat’s litter waste bags are affordable and easy to dispense too—the box has a perforated opening similar to a tissue box.
Dimensions: 7 x 13.5 inches | Material: Plastic | Scent: Unscented
More expensive than some other options
BOS is a Japanese company that makes different kinds of odor-sealing bags, with options for babies, dogs, cats, and general use. The specialization makes sense as these bags have some of the better odor-sealing capacity of any bags that we evaluated.
Like our top pick, they’re individually dispensed in the box, so there's no dealing with annoying rolls. However, unlike our top pick, they don’t have tie-off handles, so if you overfill them, they become difficult to knot. They’re also more expensive than our top choice.
Dimensions: 11.8 × 15.7 inches | Material: Plastic | Scent: Unscented
More expensive than some other options
BeyondGREEN Certified Biopolymer Cat Litter Pick-Up Bags are made from a plant-derived biopolymer, making them highly biodegradable. While some “compostable” pet waste bags adhere to standards like ASTM D6400, they typically require composting at special facilities that aren’t widely accessible for most people. The beyondGREEN bags are also “OK Compost Home” certified by Austrian testing company TÜV, which sets standards for home compostability throughout Europe.
Compostable bags are typically more expensive than plastic litter bags, and may also degrade over time—you may want to avoid bulk buys so that you don’t have these bags in long-term storage before use.
BeyondGREEN waste bags are unscented, with easy-tie handles, and are available in two sizes.
Dimensions: 13 x 16 inches (regular), 17 x 20 (large) | Material: Plant-based biopolymer | Scent: Unscented
Only available in baby powder scent
Bilibara Cat Litter Bags have many of our favorite qualities, including easy-tie handles and a leak-proof thickness, plus they have a faint baby powder scent to further cover noxious odors. The scent is mild and doesn’t feel as strong or artificial as the smell of some scented products.
At 15 by 13 inches, these bags should be large enough to handle a multi-cat household, as long as you’re regular about litter box maintenance.
Dimensions: 15 x 13 inches | Material: Plastic | Scent: Baby powder
Drawstring allows it to fix most boxes
Might not solve your day-to-day litter scooping problems
Another way to handle litter is to line the litter box with a larger bag, so that when it is time to clean you can just remove the bag and dump the litter. This generally will not replace daily scooping, but depending on your setup might be a better solution for you. Each bag is 36 x 18 inches and the Jonny Cat Litter Box liners have a drawstring, so they can tighten to fit most boxes. They’re also extremely durable.
Though more expensive than litter bags, these box liners are affordable compared to other options of their size. In addition to helping with litter box fit, the drawstrings are very useful in cleaning up.
Dimensions: 36 x 18 inches | Material: Plastic | Scent: Unscented
The lockable functionality seals off odors
Comes with a litter scoop
Designed to hold up to a week's worth of cat waste and litter
Requires ongoing purchase of Litter Genie Refill Cartridge to function properly
Need to periodically shake it to level off the contents
The concept of the Litter Genie is similar to the Diaper Genie for human babies—the push-n-lock system seals off odors to keep smells from penetrating through your home. The Litter Genie uses durable bags with five-layers of odor blocking built in to hold up to a week's worth of cat waste and soiled litter, eliminating the need for daily waste disposal. The bin has a compact design and comes with a litter scoop and attached holder for the scoop.
If you have more than one cat, you'll have to empty the bin a few times a week. And because of the bin's shape, the waste tends to pile up vertically, so you have to periodically shake the bin horizontally to level off the contents to free up space. Still, the system offers an effective solution for keeping odors at bay.
Dimensions: 9.5 x 8.5 x 17.7 inches | Material: Plastic | Scent: Unscented
Our favorite cat litter bag for most cat messes is the Boxiecat Scoop & Tie Cat Litter Waste Bags, which dispense easily, have a wide mouth, and have handles for easy knotting. For a compostable alternative, check out beyondGREEN Certified Biopolymer Cat Litter Pick-Up Bags.
Most cat litter bags have either tie-off handles or a flush top, which are tied by sealing the bag shut, spinning it, and tying it in a knot. It’s a simple process, but becomes difficult if you accidentally overfill a bag since the volume inside will prevent you from knotting it closed. While tie-off handles always ensure that you’ll be able to seal the litter waste bag, they typically provide a little less volume—keep in mind when reading measurements for a bag you’re considering that some of the described length includes the handles, leaving you less interior space.
Many bags—even those that have composting certifications, such as ASTM D6400—are actually only compostable under very specific conditions that you will be unlikely to replicate at home. If you are looking for bags that are truly compostable under almost any conditions, then looking for those made of plant material is a great place to start. Since they don’t contain plastic, these will break down under most conditions.
This roundup was written by Ellie Welles, a product researcher and writer for The Spruce Pets. A specialist in small pets, Ellie spoke with a variety of sources and used experts in small animal care to assemble the best guinea pig supplies, ferret toys, and chinchilla cages. Her two cats were a little more helpful when it came to finding great window perches.
United States Environmental Protection Agency. "Frequently Asked Questions About Plastic Recycling and Composting."
automatic bag tying machine 2 TUV Austria. "Solution: OK Compost Home."