Dog Poop Bags Terminology

Have you ever been confused about what to call a product that you use all the time and need to replenish regularly? Probably not most products. However, there is one that we at Scoop Masters gets questioned about all the time. Dog Poop Bags! We are going to look into all the different terms, types and names of the most common dog poop bags used today. OK, why is this important? Simple. It’s not always easy to talk about, well, poop, and some people just aren’t sure. I had a client call me recently who wanted to order some dog poop bags, but she seemed embarrassed to say poop. In fact, it was several minutes into the phone call before I even realized what she needed. She just couldn’t get herself to say poop bags over the phone.

At the risk of repeating some information from October of 2023, let’s get started with what they are.

Dog Poop Bags

That seems simple enough. So, what’s the confusion? I’ll tell you… it’s all the different terms used to describe them. We get terms like:

• Doggie bags
• Poop bags
• Dog pick up bags
• Dog waste bags
• Dog poop bags
• Crap bags
• Dog bags
• Dog litter bags
• Pick-up pouches
• Poop Scoops
• Poop Sacks
• Dispoz-a-Scoop (Which is actually a brand name)
• Doggy go bags

And I’m sure I could think of a myriad of others if I wanted to spend the time on it, but you get the point. I personally think that just the plain ol’ Dog Poop Bags says it all and says enough. That’s the term most of my clients use and I believe most people know what they’re referring to when they use that term. There’s no need to get embarrassed saying it. Now, what kind of dog poop bags?

Dog Poop Bag Ingredients

The process of making dog poop bags can vary between manufacturers. First, there’s the ingredients of the bag. Some are made with materials that are bio-degradable, oxy-biodegradable, compostable or some other environmentally safe sounding term. Due to some of our delightful government agencies, proving that your bags are environmentally friendly is a huge hassle.

You’ll see terms like D6400 compliant and the like. All these numbers have to do with how quickly bags will degrade in a landfill. I’ll just say one thing about this. I have had several different types of bags in my garage and they ALL degrade within a year. That being said, a compostable bag will be more expensive than a bio-degradable bag. Now, on to the different types of doggy bags.

Rolled Bags

These are the most common types of bags used in most pet stations by more apartments and HOA communities today. It’s exactly what the term says – rolled bags. These are bags that come in a roll. To grab one, you pull it off the roll and tear it off, just like toilet paper. However, not all rolled bags are the same.

When considering a replacement roll of dog poop bags, you have to take into account the product itself. The thickness of the bag has a lot to do with the quality of the bag. They are usually measured in microns, and the more microns, the thicker the bag. A good quality bag would be 15 microns or thicker. Anything less than that, well, you’re taking risks in your own hands in my opinion. Another aspect to consider is the physical design of the bag. What you want is a bag that is sealed on the bottom of the bag and not the sides. I’ve seen too many cheap bags that are sealed on the sides that have broken, and nobody wants that.

Another factor to keep in mind is the quantity of the bags in each roll. Most rolls come with 200 bags. And, even though the boxes are the same size, some rolls, like the Bark Plus brand of bags come in rolls of 300. This makes them last longer between re-fills so your maintenance staff doesn’t have to spend the as much time to replenish them. Of course, we’d rather you hire Scoop Masters to take care of this for you so your maintenance staff can tend to more pressing issues of your tenants.

Flat Pack Bags

Sometimes called header packs, these bags do not come in a roll, rather a flat card of bags that are attached at the top like a pad of paper. Some of these bags come with a handy pull strap to make it easier to remove form the dog poop bag dispenser. One of the advantages of these bags is that they are usually slightly bigger than the rolled bags. This comes into play when you’re picking up after larger dogs.

Another advantage to using flat pack dog poop bags is the ability to control the waste, sort of. Since the bags only come out one at a time, it can deter vandalism. Doesn’t happen often, but I’ve seen where someone grabbed a bag from the roll dispenser and just ran with it, depleting the supply of bags. Technically, you could grab a few flat bags at a time and keep grabbing, but much like the rolled bags, it’s unlikely.

Tissue Style Bags

The last of the major bag types, this bag dispenses much like a box of tissue. You grab one and another one pops out, ready for the next person. This is a convenient way to dispense bags one at a time and makes vandalism less likely than the other bags mentioned above. I’ve seen these types of bags at many beach communities probably because the dispensers are made of plastic and less likely to corrode around the salt water air.

One of the drawbacks to this type of bag is the expense. They can cost 2 or 3 times as much as the other bags mentioned here. There are some generic tissue style bags that only cost twice as much as the rolled. It really depends on your preference.

Specialty Scoops

Still in use today, though not nearly as common as they once were, are the aforementioned Dispoz-A-Scoop. I first saw these bags over 30 years ago when I started this business. They were in use at an HOA community that we still service to this day. These pick-up devices, as I call them, are actually a piece of cardboard that has a plastic bag attached to it. One would grab the cardboard as a handle, and attached to that would be a wire frame that holds the plastic poop bag. You would then scoop into the wire framed bag, then push down on the cardboard, thus collapsing the wire frame into the cardboard and sealing in the poop. Actually, kind of crafty in its design. That HOA community that we still service has since changed those out several years ago and opted for the flat packs instead.

Conclusion

I hope this helps clear up some thoughts you may have had concerning dog poop bags. Honestly, we’ll supply your bags no matter what you call them. We are direct distributors of several brands of dog poop bags and pet waste stations and we provide delivery nationwide on these products. The best part is the easy re-order. We have clients that simply shoot us a text or email and say “send us bags please” and we take it from there. Next time, I’ll discuss they different terms for Pet Waste Stations. Can you guess what I call them?