The 4 Best Cat Litter Disposal Systems & Waste Receptacles of 2023

Best Overall

Litter Genie Plus Cat Litter Disposal System

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A good waste disposal system needs to be able to hold several days of litter scooping, hide scents, and be easy to use. The Litter Genie has a useful capacity, is excellent at managing scents, and is simple to use—once you get used to its unique system.

To use the Litter Genie, just open the lid, dump waste in the funnel opening on top, and then pull the handle on the front to open the gate into the bagged receptacle below. The gate is spring loaded, and will snap shut again when you let go, pinching the bag closed against the back wall of the Litter Genie.

This system isn’t airtight, but it’s an effective enough seal that we have never noticed bad odors coming from the receptacle. More airtight waste receptacles may allow less odor to vent into the surroundings, but can also accumulate stink, so that a terrible smell awaits you every time you empty it. This puts the Litter Genie in an optimal middle ground—the spring-loaded door closes the bag enough to tamp down odors, but doesn’t create an airtight seal that retains moisture and smells.

Changing the bags is a little more of an involved process, though very easy once you’re used to it. Litter Genie bags are built like a long tube. You pull about a foot or so of bag out of the refill (a standard refill contains 14 feet of bag), then use a simple overhand knot to tie it off at the bottom, forming your waste bag. Push the refill into the top, pull the waste bag down through the spring-loaded gate, and you’re ready to scoop. When the receptacle is full, you crack it open, pull a little more bag down to make sure there’s enough slack to tie it off at the top, then cut the tube with a little guarded blade (similar to a utility knife blade). Tie the top and take it all away.

This may all sound a little complicated—it seems less than ideal to have both ends of a giant bag full of poop reliant on knots, however simple. We had the same reservations. But using the Litter Genie quickly becomes second nature, and we never once had a knot slip. The Litter Genie has been remarkably reliable, even after more than a year of use.

The device does require its ownset of bags, which normally cost $7 to $10 per refill (depending on if you buy them individually or in multi-packs), with each refill lasting about two months. But they are widely available across retailers, so anyone willing to shop around a little can find some great deals. Plus, there are several off-brand refills that are even cheaper, and work just as well in our experience.

Price at time of publish: $28

_{Dimensions:8.5 x 8.5 x 17 inches |Volume Capacity:7 liters|Colors:Silver, black}

Do I need a Litter Genie XL?

We don’t think so, no.

The Litter Genie XL has a bigger footprint and is a little more than five inches taller than the Litter Genie Plus. It uses the same refill cartridges, but lets you spool out a larger bagged receptacle, and holds about 50 percent more waste. That’s 50 percent longer before you have to empty it—sounds like a no-brainer, right?

Here’s why it’s not: a full bag of waste in a Litter Genie Plus is already an unwieldy burden, and can weigh as much as ten pounds. The Plus provides a decent maximum for the amount of cat waste we want to handle at any one time. Also, it’s polite to bag cat waste in with an outgoing trash bag, so your garbage collectors don’t have to deal with your cat poop directly. The big bags that come out of our Litter Genie Plus are already enough to put a serious strain on our standard kitchen garbage bags.

For most people, the Litter Genie XL is simply a little too much. However, the Litter Genie XL might be a good pick for a cat rescue or other unusually numerous, multiple cat scenario.

Litter Genie XL Cat Litter Disposal System

4.7

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What About the Litter Genie Easy Roll?

There’s a lot to like about the new Litter Genie Easy Roll—which was first released in 2022—but for now we think you’re better off sticking with the Litter Genie Plus. The Easy Roll uses a different system, where bags are drawn up from the bottom of the container and then affixed over a lip at the top of the Litter Genie. It also makes a number of minor design improvements to the exterior of the Litter Genie.

Each Easy Roll refill is meant to last for as long as six months, with the roll divided into sealed bags with perforated separators—no need for knots. It’s a good idea, but we have concerns about imperfect perforations leading to torn bags and spills. Spilling a bag of cat waste everywhere is something we’d rather not deal with even once, so for now we put more faith in the reliable, proven system in the Litter Genie Plus.

We also appreciate the wide array of refill options available for the well-established Litter Genie Plus system. The Easy Roll may one day be as ubiquitous, but for now we’re sticking with our Plus. That said, we have not yet had the chance to test the Litter Genie Easy Roll, and look forward to evaluating it for ourselves in a future update.

Litter Genie Easy Roll Cat Litter Disposal System

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Best with Foot Pedal

Litter Champ Disposal System

4.5

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The Litter Champ is very similar to the Litter Genie, but has one clear advantage: a foot pedal for lifting the top lid.

There are numerous other minor design differences between the two. For example, the Litter Champ has a door on the front that swings open, allowing for easier access to the bag for changing (just like the Genie, the Champ has a little blade inside you use to cut the bag and knot off a new receptacle). It also has a carry handle on top, making this a good pick if you have to move your litter operation around between multiple litter boxes. The Litter Champ is a little larger as well. Even the refills are a little longer—21 vs. 14 feet.

However, we still prefer the Litter Genie for two primary reasons. The first is how you scoop litter into each device. The Genie uses a spring-loaded trap door that you open manually from the outside, whereas the Litter Champ uses a weighted door that you press down on with your litter scoop. At first glance this is more convenient, since you don’t have to take a separate action to dump litter off your scoop and into the receptacle. Combined with the foot pedal, this makes the Litter Champ a more hands-free litter scooping process. However, in our experience it takes more effort, since you have to press down the door with the scoop, then shake the cat poop off into the bag. Plus, since you’re pressing the door downward into the bag, it can get messy and difficult once that bag is reasonably full and you’re pushing against a big pile of poop.

This system also requires you to have the top lid open to get your scooped poop into the bag, whereas with the Litter Genie you can drop your scooped poop on top of the sealed compartment, then close the lid, then pull out the trap door, allowing the litter to fall into the bag without you ever having to interact with the waste storage compartment. Plus, the Litter Genie’s trap door is shielded behind the bag liner, unlike the Litter Champ, which has a trap door that touches scooped waste directly.

It’s a subtle difference, and the Litter Champ is better on several design points (we prefer how its waste compartment opens for bag changes, for example), but we found the Litter Genie to be easier to use overall. Plus, while both the Champ and the Genie are available from major retailers, the Litter Genie is more ubiquitous, making it easier to find deals on bag refills and knock off brand refills.

Price at time of publish: $30

_{Dimensions:9.45 x 9 x 18.82 inches |Volume Capacity:4 gallons |Color:Gray}

Litter Champ vs. Litter Genie Plus

Best Upgrade

Modkat Litter Keeper

4.5

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While we find the Litter Genie to be the most effective litter disposal system overall, there’s no denying that it looks like a flimsy plastic receptacle. The Modkat Litter Keeper is a much more attractive and sturdy option.

The Litter Keeper operates very similarly to the Litter Champ, combining a foot pedal to open the top lid, with an inner trap door that you push against with the included scoop to drop litter into the waste compartment. It also reproduces all of the downsides of that system, since it can be hard to empty your scoop if the bag is nearly full, since you’re pressing the lid down against the waste inside. Even worse, the Litter Keeper’s waste door is relatively narrow.

However, the Modkat Litter Keeper has a number of compensations. For one, you can use either Modkat’sType H linersor bags of your choice—including grocery bags. There’s also an integrated filter compartment, and it comes with two charcoal filters.

Overall, the Modkat Litter Keeper occupies a hybrid position between a complete “disposal system” and a receptacle, since you still have to remove and tie off the bags yourself, without the convenience of the extended bags used in the Litter Champ and Litter Genie Plus. But if your litter is in a highly visible spot in your home, then the attractive design may put this one over the top.

Price at time of publish: $60

_{Dimensions:14 x 12 x 17.5 inches |Capacity:7 liters |Colors:White, gray}