A 3v3 Dino Chutes protector is about $5-6. If ordered with something else, the shipping is free. Larger protectors will be more expensive, but then they'll be used in rockets that require more dog barf.
When you use dog barf, do you keep a pouch of it on you at the launch site? I presume you take your rocket to you range box and in addition to loading an engine you go into your range box to grab a handful of dog barf. Then you have pack it into your rocket. Then you pack up your parachute and shock cord. I've never used parachute protectors before, but with a 3v3 sheet in a BT-50 rocket, I'm betting $5-$10 that it'll take longer to get out the dog barf, pack it into the BT-50 tube (or maybe a BT-60 tube), then pack the parachute and shock cord and put those into the tube.
With a parachute protector, the only extra work your'e doing is making sure it's as close to the body tube as possible (by just sliding it down the shock cord in 2 seconds), then when you're reading to pack in the parachute (something you have to do no matter what), you're at least partially wrapping the parachute with the protector.
But you all keep missing the big picture. It's not cost. It's not litter. It's not time (packing and picking up the pieces of wadding or dog barf on the field). It's all three. Then there are other reasons.
1. Something extra to forget. If your protector is already attached to your rocket, the only thing to forget is the rocket itself.
2. Something else to carry around and store. For an LPR, I have no idea how much volume of lifetime supply of dog barf would be, but I imagine it would be at least the size of a queen-size pillow case. Just another thing to store. As for carrying it around, I imagine most people don't carry around their entire supply of dog barf to their launches, but that still something to take up extra space in your car, range box or bag.
3. It's messy.
4. Availability and ease of purchase to buy what you need. Yes, dog barf is sold by various online model rocket venders. But not at the price of $5 for a lifetime supply. Ok, so go to your local harwdware store. But then you're paying more than $5 for dog barf in an amount you don't need.
Any single one of these is reasons enough to choose something else over dog barf. If you want to use it, that's fine. Yet with so many reasons not to use dog barf, I don't understand why it's being pushed SO HARD.