climatop Certification: cat litterAnalysis of the Life CycleThis factsheet shows the results of the life cycle analysis of greenhouse gas emission and relevant environmental issues. The greenhouse gas emissions were collected over the entire life cycle of cat litter products, i.e. of the production, the packaging, the transportation through to the usage and the disposal. This climate balance shows the most climate friendly cat litter product from the Migros assortment.

Functional unitTo have a comparable reference for the climate charge, the amount of cat litter used per week for one cat was compared.

climatop certification This is a mandatory post-balance concerning cat litter products which became necessary after the expiration of the prevoius certification. The balance shows that the same product can be re-awarded with the climatop label. The certification remains valid two years, afterwards a re-evaluation is necessary.

Validity: February 2014 - January 2016

Fatto Compact Forest CL(wood waste)

Fatto Compact Plus CL(Bentonit)

Fatto Classic Sensitive CL (Bentonit)

Fatto Signal CL(Bentonit, Baking Soda)

Catsan Ultra CL(Bentonit)

ResultsThe climate impact per functional unit is between 0.41 and 4.25 kg CO2e. The product comparision shows that the clumping cat litter product Fatto Forest cuts as the climate-friendliest cat litter product, however, the non-clumping products M-Budget and Fatto Natural have proven as almost same climate-friendly. All three of them cause significantly lower emissions than any other cat litter product in the compared assortment.

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Fatto Classic Natural NCL(paper and pulp waste)

Fatto Classic Deo NCL(Sepiolite, Zeolite)

M-Budget Katzenstreu NCL (Bentonit, pebble)

Catsan hygiene litter NCL, 10L und 20L(Sepiolite)

Fatto Classic Silica NCL (Silicatsand)

Productinformation: The following cat litter products from the Migros assortment were examined. CL means „clumping“ (upper line) and NCL „non clumping“ (lower line). In contrast to the non-clumping cat litter, with clumping cat litter the areas contaminated by urine and faeces cohere, so that they can be removed easily. Clumping and non-clumping cat litter fulfills the same function. Therefore those products can be compared.

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Fatto Forest CL, M-Budget NCL, Fatto Natural NCL

Fatto Signal CL

Fatto Catsan Ultra CL

Fatto Deo NCL

Fatto Silica NCL

Fatto Compact Plus CL

Catsan NCL 10L and 20L, Fatto Sensitive CL

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DiscussionThe decisive reason for their good scoring is that for all three products waste material (wood waste or paper and pulp waste) is used from rene-wable resources. Additionally, the certified cat litter products have short transport distances. Those products that are produced in Germany, are characterized by low values in the distribution. In addition, the renewal interval of the cat litter has a great influence on the result and for the production they need few energy. Clumping products usually have higher emissions in the raw materials, as they are subject to higher material requirements. In the production, especially the type of energy source and the type of processing have consequences. In the case of Fatto Classic Nature, the energy is even provided by certified hydropower and a wood chip heater.

Environmental impactThe results are very similar to the results of the climate impact. Howe- ver, the differences are not significant.That products with tendency to cause fewer greenhouse gas emissions also have rather lower overall environmental impact.

Nice to knowCat litter (mineral ones as well as the ones from cellulose/wood/pulp waste) should be put into the garbage and not into the toilet. Otherwise, it produces plumbing stoppages and the sewage plants are polluted unnecessarily.Theoretically, cat litter made from renewable resources can be com-posted. However, due to possible disease transmission, it should not be put into the own home compost. At most, it can be put into the compost collected by the community.

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Climate impact of cat litter

Packaging

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Fatto Forest CL

Fatto SignalCL

Fatto Natural NCL

M-BudgetNCL

Fatto Deo NCL

Fatto Sensi-tive CL

Fatto Com-pact Plus CL

Catsan 10L and 20L NCL

Catsan Ultra CL

Fatto Silica NCL