90–180 Days: How Paper Veterinary Products Return to the Soil

The difference between 'gone' and 'somewhere else'

When a plastic product leaves a veterinary clinic, it does not disappear — it relocates. A rigid plastic tray takes 500 years or more to break down, and even then it does not truly degrade: it fragments into smaller and smaller plastic particles that persist in soil and water. Multi-component products such as pee pads are worse still, because bonded layers of plastic film, adhesives and super-absorbent polymers cannot be separated and go to landfill as-is.

Paper fibre behaves differently because it is not a synthetic material trying to resist nature. It is plant cellulose — the same material as fallen leaves — and the organisms in soil are already equipped to consume it.

What biodegrades, and how fast

VOLKOS products are pressed from 100% recycled paper fibre with no plastic, no chemistry and no coatings to interfere. In soil, moisture and microbial activity break the fibre down in 90–180 days. At the end of that period there is no tray-shaped remnant and no microplastic fraction — the material has become a natural part of the soil again.

The same is true across the range: litter trays, feeding and drinking bowls, and scoops share the same single-material construction. A ward that standardises on the range has one end-of-life story for every product, not a different problem per product.

Important: clean material only

Biodegradation in soil applies to clean products — unused spares, or products used with dry, non-infectious material only — and only where local rules permit. Any product that has contacted patients, clinical fluids or medication belongs in the clinic's compliant waste stream, whether that is clinical waste collection or incineration with energy recovery.

This is a deliberate boundary, not a limitation of the product. Infection control comes first; the material's ability to return to nature is the bonus for the waste that is clean enough to take that route.

What owners should be told at discharge

For products sent home — the discharge litter tray set or the Essentials kit — the message to the owner is simple: the tray is paper, contains no plastic and no chemicals, and when it is finished it can go to the garden soil or compost where local rules allow, breaking down in a few months. If the pet has been under treatment or the owner is unsure, household waste is always acceptable.

The comparison in one line

• VOLKOS paper tray: biodegrades in 90–180 days, becomes part of the soil.
• Clinic pee pad: 500+ years for the plastic fraction; five bonded materials, landfill only.
• Rigid plastic tray: 500+ years; fragments into persistent microplastic.

A note on the figures

Comparison and scale figures are modelled estimates, not a certified third-party LCA. Source: VOLKOS LCA Report, June 2026. Not yet third-party critically reviewed — independent verification recommended before external ESG or procurement use.