The Best Dog Poop Bags, Dispensers, and Bag Holders of 2024 | Reviews by Wirecutter

By Mel Plaut

Mel Plaut is a writer covering pets. They have tested hundreds of products for our best animal friends, including dog beds and pet fountains.

After new testing, we’ve rewritten this guide with all new picks.

I’ve gotten dog poop on my hand more times than I should probably admit. There’s a frantic rush to the nearest sink, my soiled hand held out like a biohazard, attracting curious stares from strangers.

A poop bag that won’t leak, break, or disintegrate is your first line of defense against this minor but thoroughly gross catastrophe. The best poop bags should open easily, minimize plastic waste, and not stink too much.

After a month collecting over a hundred droppings from multiple pups, we’ve found Earth Rated Dog Poop Bags are the best to make picking up poop, well, a little less crappy.

These poop bags are tough, thick, and made with 65% postconsumer recycled plastic.

These partially plant-based bags feature a convenient countdown number printed on each one.

This simple, sturdy design withstands daily use and features a convenient hook to hold your used poop bags.

This inexpensive accessory attaches to your leash and can hold two used poop bags without too much dangling.

If you’re picking up lots of droppings, this hook can carry up to four full bags, and it’s simple to set up.

These poop bags are tough, thick, and made with 65% postconsumer recycled plastic.

The Earth Rated Poop Bags don’t break or leak, they hold up well in grass and on pavement, they separate from the roll easily at the indicated perforation, and they feel thicker than many of the bags we tested. While no bag can truly mask the stench, the unscented versions of these bags did a better job at suppressing odor than the others.

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These partially plant-based bags feature a convenient countdown number printed on each one.

The Original Poop Bags Countdown Rolls do well on a variety of surfaces, don’t spring leaks even when hauling a full load, and feel thicker than most of the other bags we tested. Each bag has a number printed on it that lets you know exactly how many are left. But they’re harder to separate from the roll than our top pick.

This simple, sturdy design withstands daily use and features a convenient hook to hold your used poop bags.

The Earth Rated Poop Bag Dispenser attaches to your leash and stores a roll of poop bags, making it easy to tear off a new one whenever the need may arise. It’s made of tough plastic that holds up to repeated dropping and dragging, and the yellow hook on the side offers a convenient spot to put used bags, so you don’t have to carry a stinky bundle. But it can be hard to twist open.

This inexpensive accessory attaches to your leash and can hold two used poop bags without too much dangling.

If your dispenser doesn’t have a hook for full bags, the SVD Pet Dog Poop Bag Holder is a simple contraption that attaches to your leash with a hook and loop strap. It’s lightweight and strong, and it can carry two full poop bags at one time.

If you’re picking up lots of droppings, this hook can carry up to four full bags, and it’s simple to set up.

The Wilderdog Crap Carrier is easy to attach to any leash, looping through itself, so setting it up takes seconds. It can hold up to four full bags of poop, so you’re not left carrying a bouquet of loaded bags in your free hand all the way home.

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I’m a Wirecutter staff writer covering pets. I’ve tested cat litter, dog beds, automatic pet feeders, pet carriers, and hundreds of other products to make life easier and better for your best animal friends (and for the people who care for them).

For this guide:

Like all Wirecutter journalists, I review and test products with complete editorial independence. I’m never made aware of any business implications of my editorial recommendations. Read more about our editorial standards.

Dogs are little (or big) poop factories, producing an average of 0.75 pounds of poop per day, according to Rose Seemann, co-founder of the Enviro Pet Waste Network. That’s 274 pounds a year that dog caretakers need to get rid of somehow.

There are several ways to manage your dog’s poop, but leaving it on the ground is the worst option, even if it’s in your backyard or the middle of the woods. This is because dog feces can spread pathogens and can disrupt the natural balance of nutrients in soil. And if you’re anywhere near a stream or river, “you can get harmful algal blooms,” said Amber Roegner, a veterinarian and environmental toxicologist at Loyola University Chicago.

The most convenient way to clean up your dog’s poop is by picking it up with a bag and throwing it in the trash. Poop bags are portable, inexpensive, sturdier than paper alternatives, and easy to discard. Like baby diapers, but for dogs.

But if you just can’t stomach the idea of buying bags dedicated to this purpose, the experts we spoke to suggest looking around your house for alternatives, including newspaper bags (assuming you still get the paper edition), bread bags, and potato chip bags. If you have a yard, a pooper scooper, shovel, or plastic jug can also help you transport poop to the trash, but you’ll need to wash these out regularly—and store them somewhere in between pickups. And they’re often too bulky to carry on walks.

A growing number of so-called compostable poop bags are available, but it’s not as easy as just chucking them into your curbside composting bin. Most municipal composting programs in the US don’t accept pet waste because it can contain pathogens as well as the residues from antiparasitic medications. And many don’t even accept compostable bags. “Compostable plastics are designed to look and feel like regular plastics,” said Remmington Belford, EPA press secretary. “Most sorting machines and human operators at recycling or composting facilities find it difficult to differentiate between the two—compostable and not.”

Even “certified home compostable bags don’t do what we think they do,” said Emily Bryson, an associate lecturer at Central Queensland University in Australia, whose research focuses on composting dog feces. In her studies, the compostable bags she tested all broke down into microplastics, which stayed in the soil. And sending them to the landfill may cause more harm than good. Landfills are often inert environments, so compostable bags likely won’t degrade there. But if they do manage to break down, they can release methane, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere, according to Bryson.

All this to say: Most dog owners are going to be bagging poop. Most neighbors are going to expect the streets to stay poop-free. And it never hurts to put out a few spare bags in a convenient spot for passersby, especially if you’re going to put a sign up.

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Poop bags are usually made from one or more of the following materials:

Since poop bags are a single-use item, we kept an eye on potential environmental impacts when considering models to test. But, according to Demirtas, a product’s environmental impact can’t be generalized based on its material attributes, and even the experts we spoke to had conflicting opinions.

Demirtas recommended instead that we look at “product by product carbon footprint calculations.” But while manufacturers are happy to broadcast their product’s benefits, they’re generally tight-lipped when it comes to the drawbacks.

Given this labyrinth of feedstocks, manufacturing energy usage, and end-of-life impacts, we prioritized poop bags that contained at least some postconsumer recycled plastic or biobased materials. We also considered one paper option and several compostable bags, but these all broke so easily that we were unable to perform the full suite of tests on most of them.

Lastly, we looked for bags that were well reviewed, widely available, and relatively inexpensive.

I used poop bags from a dozen companies repeatedly over the course of a month, testing each one on a broad range of samples, spanning a variety of sizes and consistencies.

My 65-pound dog, Dave, was a generous contributor on our walks. I also scooped up any errant poops I stumbled across in the neighborhood, and I spent a fragrant afternoon in a friend’s yard, scouring the landscaping for her dog’s poops, both new and old.

Once I narrowed down the field to five contenders, I spent a few days at my local dog park asking strangers if I could pick up after their dogs. (Most agreed even if they were slightly, and understandably, weirded out.) I had input from several very cute participants, including Carbon, a 9-year-old pit bull who lives on a farm; Rogan, a spaniel mix with a squirrel addiction; and Hunter, a goofy mutt with David Bowie eyes.

I evaluated each bag according to the following criteria:

In addition to testing bags, I also researched eight hooks that can clip onto a leash to help carry full bags of poop. I tested six of these with bags of feces of varying sizes and weights. I also used dirt clods when the real thing wasn’t immediately available. Each hook was evaluated on its durability, structure, ease of use, and cost.

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These poop bags are tough, thick, and made with 65% postconsumer recycled plastic.

Earth Rated Poop Bags are easy to open, sturdy enough to use in harsh conditions, and feel thicker than most of the bags we tested. We dismissed these bags in a previous version of this guide, but the company has since updated its design, and this new version is excellent in all aspects. Each roll features a warning sticker when only three bags are left, so you’re not caught off guard when the dispenser runs empty. Plus, they’re made from 65% postconsumer recycled material.

They’re the most durable bags we tested. When grabbing solids from any surface, the Earth Rated bags never tore or leaked. And they sustained the least amount of damage of all the bags we tested after scraping them hard across the sidewalk and prickly grass, tying only with our runner-up from The Original Poop Bags. The other bags we tested tore much more easily, and several were practically shredded, whereas the Earth Rated bags stayed mostly intact.

They’re easy to open and warn you when you’re running low. Whereas the other bags required multiple tries, each Earth Rated bag reliably opened with a quick rub of a few fingers. The process was easier than on all the other bags we tested, matched only by Only Natural Pet 100% Post-Consumer Recycled Unscented Poop Bags. The Earth Rated bags were also among the easiest to separate from the roll along the conveniently indicated perforation line. A yellow sticker warns you when just three bags are left in the roll, so you can prepare to replace it in the dispenser.

They feel thick and help contain odor. No poop bag can make you forget what you’re touching, but the Earth Rated bags felt thicker than all the others we tested, giving me confidence that the plastic barrier would stay intact during regular duty. None of the bags we tested fully masked the smell of its contents, but these suppressed more odor than the others, tied only with Gorilla Supply Dog Poop Waste Bags.

They’re made with 65% postconsumer plastic. Earth Rated uses a recipe that is 65% recycled content blended with 35% polyethylene. That 65% “is mostly made from things like plastic jugs and bottles that are discarded for recycling,” said Ashley Montgomery, marketing and communications specialist at Earth Rated. The amount of recycled content in the bags was independently verified by two third-party organizations. And while these tests are part of fee-for-service programs, we view it as a sign of good faith that the company made the effort. The bags are “giving a second life to more than 5 million pounds of landfill-bound plastic every year,” Montgomery told us.

It has a core (but it’s mostly recycled). Earth Rated’s rolls are wrapped around a core, albeit one that’s made from “a minimum of 88% recycled kraft,” according to Montgomery. So this creates another bit of waste if you don’t or can’t recycle it.

They’re in the middle of the pack when it comes to price. If you buy 600 bags at a time, the highest bulk quantity available, you’ll pay around 4¢ per bag (at the time of this writing), which is just below the average price of most of the bags we tested (excluding the very expensive paper option, which skewed the average way higher). At the lowest quantity of 60 bags, the cost per bag goes up to just over 6¢. The cheapest bags we tested cost as little as 2¢ a bag when you buy 1,000 at a time.

These partially plant-based bags feature a convenient countdown number printed on each one.

If you want to use more plant-based material for picking up your dog’s waste, The Original Poop Bags Countdown Rolls are certified by the USDA BioPreferred Program to contain 38% biobased material. They hold up well in grass and on pavement, and they have a convenient countdown feature so you know exactly when the roll will run out.

You can count on them. The Original Poop Bags were the only ones we found that featured a declining number printed on all 15 bags in the roll. The numbers are printed in a faint, rudimentary style, but they do the job. And while this countdown isn’t nearly as exciting as, say, Times Square on New Year’s Eve, it gives you the rare ability to always know exactly how many bags you have left.

They’re a solid number two. The Original Poop Bags held up to our scraping tests, picking up poop and our miso-rrhea concoction with ease. They did great in grass and picked up solids like a champ. They got a couple of small holes when scraping them hard across sidewalk surfaces, but they had fewer and smaller tears than most of the other bags we tested. No matter what bag you use, we advise caution when scraping liquidy messes from concrete. These bags were as good as that of Earth Rated at containing odors, though neither could truly keep the poop smell at bay.

They use some plant-based materials. These bags have been certified by the USDA BioPreferred Program to contain 38% biobased content. The feedstock comes from “a variety of farming byproducts such as corn and wheat stalks, sugar cane, etc. Upcycling these byproducts prevents them from being thrown away, burned, or buried,” said Paul Cannella, the company’s founder and president. The rest of the bag is made from polyethylene. The packaging is made from “100% paper” and is recyclable, according to Cannella. The company is currently releasing a bag with 92% plant-based content to replace its compostable line, but these weren’t readily available during testing, so we can’t speak to their performance.

It can be difficult to separate bags. The Original Poop Bags were one of the hardest to tear along their perforations, requiring quite a bit of force to separate a new bag. These bags cost about the same as the Earth Rated bags and also have a core in the center that you need to either throw away or recycle.

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This simple, sturdy design withstands daily use and features a convenient hook to hold your used poop bags.

Poop bag dispensers come in several shapes and sizes, from round canisters to bone-shaped containers to multicolored zip-up bags, but how you carry your poop bag roll is largely a personal style decision. I’ve experimented with several of these over the years, but the one I keep coming back to is the Earth Rated Poop Bag Dispenser.

It holds up to wear and tear. The Earth Rated dispenser is a sturdy canister that twists open at the bottom and clicks when it’s locked shut, keeping the bags securely inside. It hooks around a leash handle or D-ring via a silicone strap that’s simple to maneuver. I’ve been using one for the past year and it’s been repeatedly dropped, dragged, and stepped on by humans and dogs alike. And while it looks a bit roughed up these days, it still dispenses bags as well as the day I got it.

It can do double duty. The Earth Rated dispenser has a yellow hook on the side where you can hang a full bag, sliding it into the slot and using the bag’s knot to keep it in place. This lets you have one hand free until you get home (or to your nearest public garbage can).

It can be hard to open. The twist-and-lock feature that keeps the bags inside can also make it tough to unlock. It requires some grip strength, and several reviewers have complained about not being able to get their dispensers open. “It can be a bit tricky to open the dispenser for the first time because you need to break the seal,” said Ashley Montgomery at Earth Rated. But we found that it can continue to be sticky long after breaking the seal. So if you have limited hand strength or don’t want to muscle it open whenever you’re swapping in a new roll, this isn’t the best dispenser for you.

This inexpensive accessory attaches to your leash and can hold two used poop bags without too much dangling.

If you already have a dispenser you love and it doesn’t have a poop clip on it, the SVD Pet Dog Poop Bag Holder is an add-on accessory that features two slots to hang your knotted used bags. It attaches to your leash with an included hook and loop strap.

It’s sturdy and cheap. This was one of the easiest hooks to slot bags onto. It weighs so little that it doesn’t add any heft to your leash when you’re not using it, and you can tighten the strap to reduce (but not eliminate) dangling. The plastic felt sturdy in our testing, and it stayed balanced even when toting just one load. The company claims it can hold up to 20 pounds at a time, but we didn’t dare test this. If you’re scared of it breaking, or you just don’t feel like buying anymore plastic, it comes in a metal version for a dollar more (but we didn’t test that one).

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If you’re picking up lots of droppings, this hook can carry up to four full bags, and it’s simple to set up.

If you have multiple dogs, or just one very prolific canine, the Wilderdog Crap Carrier is a leash attachment that can hold up to four full bags at a time.

It’s simple and easy to attach. The Crap Carrier had the simplest design of all the hooks we tested. It was one of the easiest to attach, looping through itself and cinching down on the leash. Looking at it, I assumed it would slide around but the grippy material held it mostly in place, only shifting a bit when I really shook it while fully loaded up. It naturally swings a little, but not as much as some of the other hooks we tested. And it can hold up to four bags of poop at a time, should you be so unlucky.

The adorable, whimsical, and expensive Thank You Bags from Cool Poo Bags caused a viral sensation right as we were finishing this guide, and they were sold out before we had a chance to test them. We’ll take a closer look at them when we next update this guide. We’ll also try out the 92% plant-based bags from The Original Poop Bags.

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For this update, we didn’t test our former top pick, the Amazon Basics Dog Poop Leak Proof Bags because the manufacturer does not claim to use any recycled or biobased plastics. Other options are available that perform just as well and feel thicker, so we’ve sent this pick to the Wirecutter landfill for the last time.

Gorilla Supply Dog Poop Waste Bags performed well in most categories and cost the least when bought in bulk. But they weren’t as easy to tear at the perforation or to start a new roll as our picks. The plastic they use is something they vaguely refer to as “EPI technology.” EPI makes an additive that is restricted in the European Union because it is thought to cause the material to break down into microplastics. Since this technology is controversial and potentially harmful, we dismissed these bags for now.

We had high hopes for Only Natural Pet 100% Post-Consumer Recycled Unscented Dog Poop Bags because they’re made of 100% recycled postconsumer plastic. Unfortunately, they weren’t as durable as our picks. They ripped more easily, developing larger holes when scraped against both the sidewalk and grass than our picks did. They also didn’t contain odors as well, and they have no warning when you’re approaching the end of the roll.

Pets N Bags Poop Bags are a former runner-up, but they didn’t hold up well on the sidewalk, they were difficult to open, and they felt thin.

Pogi’s Dog Poop Bags with Easy-Tie Handles are a former also-great pick. These were the only bags we tested with handles. And while tying them was easier than with regular bags, they don’t come on a roll, so you have to make sure you grab enough for each walk. They also did poorly when scraped in grass and on pavement, and they broke in our weight tests. Both of our picks come in a version with handles, if you prefer holding and tying them this way.

Greener Walker Dog Poop Bags were one of the cheapest options we tested, but they ripped badly in our sidewalk and grass tests, and the rolls were hard to start without tearing the first bag, rendering it useless. The box claims the bags are made from a “bio corn starch blend,” but there’s no information on how much of that material the bags contain.

Unni Compostable Dog Poop Bags are currently certified by the USDA BioPreferred Program to contain 98% biobased content but they felt thin, were on the pricier side, and weren’t nearly as durable as our picks.

Pet N Pet Dog Poop Bags carry the USDA Certified Biobased Product Label and are certified to contain at least 38% plant-based content, similar to our runner-up. But they weren’t nearly as strong, and they felt the thinnest of all the bags we tested.

Give A Shit 100% Certified Home Compostable Dog Poop Bags are a compostable option that carries a high price and underperforms. The bags were near the bottom of the pack in terms of durability and were one of the worst at containing odor.

Doggy Do Good Poop Bags failed early on in our testing. It was the only bag that repeatedly leaked through the bottom seams when filled with water.

PoopShark Paper Poop Bags contain no plastic at all. These paper bags are adorable but they don’t do well under irregular conditions. They easily tore during our miso paste tests, and they aren’t waterproof. While we like the idea of using less plastic, we’d only recommend using these for solid poops in dry conditions, and with a sink and some soap nearby in case of failure.

We tested Bags on Board Economy Pack Refill Bags in 2019. The thin plastic made them extremely easy to open and tear off the roll. The downside of the thinner plastic is that you feel what you’re picking up in great detail, and you can smell it, too.

The Hilihali Dog Poop Bag Holder attaches to the leash with a small carabiner clip so it’s one of the easiest to set up, but it felt unbalanced when we used it with only one bag, and it dangled more than our picks.

The Gentle Creatures Poo Buddy limited dangling more than any other option we tested because it attaches to the leash at two points using wide silicone straps. But we lost one of the silicone straps within a few days, a common complaint in the product’s reviews. The company includes two zip ties in the package, but they’re not as nice as the straps.

The Kitiimeow Dog Poop Bag Holder is large so it’s easy to get the bag through the opening, but it dangled a lot. It also feels cheap. I didn’t get to fully test it because my spouse thought it was trash and threw it away.

Dumper Cables use a plastic clip to grab your sack of poop like a tiny set of jaws. It worked well, but the whole thing jutted out from the leash at nearly a 90-degree angle, making it awkward to carry. Each clip only holds one bag, but they come in a pack of two.

This article was edited by Harry Sawyers. Susan Arendt wrote a previous version of this guide.

Paul Cannella, founder and president, The Original Poop Bags, email interview, September 25, 2024

Ashley Montgomery, marketing and communications specialist, Earth Rated, email interview, September 24, 2024

Meltem Urgun Demirtas, department manager for sustainable materials and processes, Applied Materials Division of Argonne National Laboratory, US Department of Energy, phone interview, September 17, 2024

Rose Seemann, co-founder, Enviro Pet Waste Network, phone interview, September 16, 2024

Patrick Krieger, vice president of sustainability, Plastics Industry Association, phone interview, September 16, 2024

Remmington Belford, US Environmental Protection Agency, email interview, September 10, 2024

Derek Jones, branch chief, Public Private Partnerships Branch, Rural Business Cooperative Service, US Department of Agriculture, video interview, September 10, 2024

Genesis Rodriguez, public affairs specialist, Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, email interview, September 5, 2024

Vincent Gragnani, press secretary at NYC Department of Sanitation, email interview, September 3, 2024

Amber Roegner, DVM, PhD, assistant professor of one health and environmental toxicology, Loyola University Chicago, phone interview, August 30, 2024

Ann Rippy, field technical training and practice implementation specialist, Natural Resources Conservation Service, US Department of Agriculture, phone interview, August 29, 2024

Emily Bryson, associate lecturer, Central Queensland University, phone interview, August 26, 2024

Mel Plaut

Mel Plaut is a staff writer covering pets at Wirecutter. They developed a special affinity for animals at an early age, when every stray cat and runaway dog ended up at their family’s doorstep. Their writing has appeared in The New York Times, the New York Daily News, USA Today, HuffPost, NPR’s All Things Considered, and others.

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