# Plastic 20 pound kitty litter jugs



## Ohio Rusty (Jan 18, 2008)

Being a herder of cats, I save the tidy cat clumping litter jugs with the screw tops. They come in handy for transporting 4 gallons of water at a time for gardening, washing cars, filling toilets when the water company goes down for a day, etc. 
I was wondering if these plastic containers could be used for water storage for human consumption. The clumping litter is dry media and I don't think that anything in the litter would permeate the plastic that might be harmful. 
Can any list members expound further on why or why not these 20 pound jugs couldn't be used for human water storage if well cleaned out?
Thanx .....
Ohio Rusty ><>
Psalms 27:1-3/Psalms 91:9-11


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## pickapeppa (Jan 1, 2005)

Plasticizer leachates?


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## COSunflower (Dec 4, 2006)

If water is scarce, we're not really going to worry about the plastic leaching into the water....it does that with ALL plastic stuff! So I think that you could use them as water storage "just in case"...better than nothing!!!!


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## jd4020 (Feb 24, 2005)

I have saved rainwater in a barrel system for many years. They are homemade heavy barrels with spigots in the bottom that I can attach a garden hose and fill jugs or buckets. This water I use for watering my indoor plants during the winter months, but also fill my used water, milk and juice jugs --all gallon size and use them in the summer when rainfall may be scarce. It watered my new fruit trees when rainfall was scarce this past summer. These barrels cost less than $20.00 to put together.
I don't have a system as of yet that would filter the rainwater enough for human drinking, but, would and have used that water for watering the animals, (hey, I've seen them drink out of the crik, mud puddles and other very unsavory spots, such as the fish tank and the toilet (our indoor kittys) so the rainwaters gotta be better than that)  I've also used it for washing my hair and bath water as well as filling up the ol ringer washer and washing our clothes. When using it for bathing and laundry I let the barrels set a day or two so things settle to the bottom of the barrel and then just slowly pour off the top. The spigots are also placed a couple inches from the bottom, to avoid getting the "settles" in the bucket. (if I'm using it for laundry, etc)
We have not converted the toilet over to a waterless system, so I would think that storing the water in the cat litter containers would be useful for toilet flushing. I've saved my jugs over the years, and they do get leaks and break down, and personally, I don't think I would drink water from the cat litter containers, because the plastic may not be "food grade". But, I also suppose, that in a desperate situation, I would probably not be picky.


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## CowboyAcosta (Jul 29, 2020)

This is quite the old post, but yes, Tidy Cats/Kitty Litter Jugs are safe to put water in once you clean it out a couple of times. The jugs are made out of #2 HDPE plastic, which is one of 2 plastics used to contain water. 20 lb litter jugs can hold up to 4 gallons of water, so they're a great choice if you ever need to save some rainwater, or even tap. 🤠


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Those buckets have nice handles and are good for most anything from hauling water to gardening planters to nesting boxes. My wife drilled holes in the bottom side and uses several for slow irrigation. Too much of a waste to send them all to the landfill.


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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

GTX63 said:


> Those buckets have nice handles and are good for most anything from hauling water to gardening planters to nesting boxes. My wife drilled holes in the bottom side and uses several for slow irrigation. Too much of a waste to send them all to the landfill.
> View attachment 89812


I have several of those and store critter feed and fertilizer in those.
The OP is about these litter jugs and i have several of these with small holes drilled in half of the cap and use them for watering plants.


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## flewism (Apr 2, 2007)

GTX63 said:


> Those buckets have nice handles and are good for most anything from hauling water to gardening planters to nesting boxes. My wife drilled holes in the bottom side and uses several for slow irrigation. Too much of a waste to send them all to the landfill.
> View attachment 89812


Would you believe my 3pt sprayer is stored sitting on (4) of the yellow cat litter buckets. We use about 8 of the those 35lbs buckets of litter a month


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Seems like the neighbor lady pays about $12 or so for a bucket of litter in these yellow buckets vs about the same for a bag.
The ones at HD are $3 with the flimsy handles and the walls aren't as thick.
I hadn't thought about propping up implements. I may give that a try.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

My cats live outside, what is kitty litter?


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## Ann-NWIowa (Sep 28, 2002)

Cut the bottom out and take the tops off and you have a container to put over newly planted tomatoes, peppers, etc. Keep the lids handy so if a frost is forecast you can put them on to protect the plant. 

To answer your question, unless the bucket is food grade I would not put drinking water in it. However, it would work for water to be used for flushing, cleaning and other non-consumable uses.


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## Gayle in KY (May 13, 2002)

I have one under the sink to put stuff in for the compost pile.


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## 1sttimemom (Mar 1, 2005)

We use the bucket type to store dry cat & dog food in. We buy the feed in big 50 lb bags and store in our barn in trash cans but use the litter buckets to keep smaller amount inside for the indoor kitties and our old dog who lives inside. We use the jug type for hauling hot water out at milking time for cleaning the milking equipment. We also have used the jugs to store goat milk we plan to use for bottle feeding the calf, baby goats, or to give to barn cats, etc. We have not stored drinking water or milk we intend to use for ourselves in it but in an emergency I would probably use them as it's better than nothing for sure!


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## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

Water is food so you should store it only in plastic that is deemed food safe. 

If you look it up it advises to "check the recycling symbol on the bottom of the bucket. The quickest and most reliable way to check for food safety is by consulting the recycling number. This number will be between 1 and 7 and will be stamped inside a triangle of arrows. 

My husband has done a lot of water testing on water coming out of different containers. In short - don't take any chances. The cat litter containers can be used for a lot of things but buy proper water jugs - spend a bit for safety. Ditto for storing animal feed. In a serious crisis doctors and vets will not be on call.


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