DEV Community: Ben Borden

Are Compostable Pet Products Actually Compostable?

Ben Borden — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 09:40:59 +0000

While working on EcoFurBall, a side project focused on sustainable pet care, I’ve noticed that one term causes more confusion than almost any other: compostable.

Compostable pet products sound like an obvious win. The label suggests reduced waste, lower environmental impact, and a cleaner end-of-life story. However, once you look past the packaging claims, the reality becomes much more complicated.

Most compostable pet products rely on very specific conditions to break down properly. In practice, those conditions rarely exist in normal household composting systems or local waste streams. As a result, many items marketed as compostable never actually compost at all.

I recently published a detailed breakdown that looks at this issue without marketing spin, focusing on how compostable pet products behave in real-world disposal systems.

👉 Are Compostable Pet Products Actually Compostable? What Most Brands Don’t Explain
https://ecofurball.com/are-compostable-pet-products-actually-compostable/

The article explores:

What “compostable” really means in pet products

Why home composting usually isn’t enough

The role of industrial composting facilities

Where compostable labels help — and where they mislead

I’m also keeping a simple resource hub that connects EcoFurBall articles and related sustainability content in one place, mainly for organisation and crawlability as the project grows:

🔗 EcoFurBall Resource Hub
https://ecofurball-link-hub-473689506510.europe-west1.run.app/

If you’re interested in sustainability claims, greenwashing, or how eco-labels translate into real environmental outcomes, this topic is worth a closer look.

Quick Update on EcoFurball: New Guide Published + Behind the Scenes

Ben Borden — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 21:48:17 +0000

I’ve been continuing to chip away at EcoFurball — my little side project focused on sustainable, eco-friendly pet care. If you saw my earlier post, you know this is something I’m building slowly, one useful guide at a time.

This week, I published a new article that dives into something most pet owners (including me, originally) never think about: microplastics in our pets’ daily routine. From water bowls to indoor dust, it’s wild how many small things add up.

Here’s the new post if you’re curious:

👉 [https://ecofurball.com/reduce-microplastics-in-your-pets-routine/]

From a project-building perspective, this piece was fun because it touched multiple parts of the workflow:

researching a topic where pet care overlaps with environmental science

writing with clarity but avoiding the “SEO robot voice”

creating multiple images and matching schemas

and making sure the whole thing fits into the content structure I’ve been evolving over the last couple of months

The more I work on EcoFurball, the more I realise that keeping the site healthy isn’t just about writing articles — it’s about maintaining the workflow behind them: backlinks, fresh posts, image prep, schemas, and the whole publishing pipeline.

If you’re working on a side project too — whether it’s dev-focused or content-focused — I’d love to hear:
How do you keep your project moving forward when you only have small pockets of time each week?

Always open to hearing how other creators balance consistency with everything else in life.

Building EcoFurball: A Side Project for Sharing Eco-Friendly Pet Care

Ben Borden — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 20:43:06 +0000

Like many people on Dev.to, I enjoy working on projects outside of my day job. Some people code apps, some build tools, and some just write for the love of it. For me, that side project has turned into EcoFurball.com
— a blog dedicated to eco-friendly pet care, sustainable products, and green living with our animals.

I wanted to share how I’ve been approaching it, partly because I know others here have similar “passion projects,” and partly because I’d love feedback from a community that understands the joys and challenges of creating something from scratch.

Why EcoFurball?

Pets bring so much joy into our lives, but caring for them often comes with a hidden environmental cost. Plastic food bowls, synthetic chew toys, and disposable grooming products are everywhere.

EcoFurball grew out of a simple question: Can we do better for our pets and the planet at the same time?

The site now features resources like:

Eco-Friendly Dog Bowls

Natural Rubber Dog Toys

Eco-Friendly Pet Food Containers

The goal isn’t just to review products but to share practical, sustainable tips that any pet owner can adopt.

The Tech Setup

Because this is Dev.to, let’s talk a bit about the stack:

WordPress (self-hosted) → makes it simple to publish and manage content.

Astra theme + Spectra blocks → lightweight, flexible, and easy to customize.

Rank Math SEO plugin → helps keep titles, meta descriptions, and schema consistent.

SiteGround hosting → reliable performance without breaking the bank.

It’s not fancy or over-engineered — just enough to get the job done. The emphasis is on content and community.

The Content Challenge

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that consistency matters more than polish.

I try to publish 2–3 articles a week. Some are deep dives, like Are Bamboo Dog Bowls Safe?
, while others are quicker tip-based posts. Either way, the point is to keep showing up with useful information.

At first, traffic was non-existent. Google’s “sandbox” effect is real — new sites often struggle to gain visibility early on. But the more content I publish, the more EcoFurball starts appearing for small search terms, and the more people stumble across it.

Community & Sharing

For me, EcoFurball isn’t just about writing in isolation. It’s also about connecting with other eco-conscious pet owners and people who are interested in sustainability.

That’s why I share posts across:

Instagram (eco-friendly tips in a visual way)

Pinterest (boards like Eco-Friendly Pet Care)

LinkedIn (for the professional audience who care about sustainability)

Medium & Vocal (cross-posting content for broader reach)

Each platform has its own rhythm, but together they help create a small but growing community.

What I’ve Learned So Far

Pick a niche you care about. Writing about eco-friendly pet care doesn’t feel like a chore, because it matters to me personally.

Small wins add up. A single reader commenting that they switched to natural rubber toys because of my article makes it worth it.

Don’t chase perfection. Publish, learn, adjust, repeat. The rough edges are part of the journey.

Community > traffic. The most rewarding part so far has been connecting with people who share the same passion for sustainability.

What’s Next

I’d love for EcoFurball to become a go-to hub for sustainable pet care. That means:

Continuing to publish useful guides and how-tos.

Featuring voices beyond my own (interviews, guest posts, maybe even user stories).

Expanding into more formats, like quick videos or downloadable checklists.

Over to You

Have you ever built a side project around a personal passion — something that isn’t about coding tools or chasing revenue, but simply about helping a community?

If so, how did you grow it? What helped you stay motivated when progress felt slow?

And if you’re curious, you can check out one of my latest guides here: Are Bamboo Dog Bowls Safe?

I’d love to hear your thoughts — both on EcoFurball and on building projects like this in general.