They may be cute and cuddly, but with more than 350,000 dogs living in Metro Vancouver, the 500 tonnes of poop produced each year is a real problem.
Officials say dog poop, which contains high levels of pathogens, is turning landfills into a toxic mess. Metro Vancouver wants the feces out of the trash and into the sewer system – and has tried several methods to just that.
“Ideally, what we want is the public to be able to take their waste and flush it down the toilet at home… that’s the goal,” said Doug Petersen, operational supervisor of Metro Vancouver regional parks, smiling as he acknowledges the "ick factor" may be too high for people to get on board with that idea.
A doggie toilet area in North Vancouver was rarely used. At an Aldergrove dog park owners scoop into a tank that’s regularly emptied, but the region hasn’t had success replicating the project elsewhere.
The only thing that seems to work is separate red bins for dog waste, located next to regular garbage cans. Owners dispose the steaming packages into the bin, the bags are cut open, and the waste is taken by truck to Richmond’s Iona Sewage Treatment Plant.
Bill Droeske owns Scooby’s Dog Waste Removal Service, the company that is responsible for cutting open the poop bags and transporting the feces.
“It’s kind of a gross job, and it’s manually intensive,” Droeske said. “People have suggested that I invent a machine, but I’d rather not. I’d rather employ people.”
The City of Vancouver is spending $75,000 to put the bins into three parks, and with this Droeske’s poop projection is expected to double to nearly 1,400 litres a week.
In fact, the idea is so popular with dog owners that an extra bin was added to a Port Moody neighbourhood last week because one wasn’t enough.
“The bins are working well – lots of people are using them,” said Petersen. “We tested it for a while with several parks and we saw the success, so we’re going to be expanding those bins into more regional parks into the next number of years.”
“We’re trying to help people understand, and make sure we do the best we can to get it there.”
With files from CTV Vancouver’s Nafeesa Karim
