What should Vancouver do with doggy doo-doo?
Posted May 9, 2019 9:33 pm.
Last Updated May 10, 2019 7:30 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — It’s a stinky problem, but one Vancouver City Councillor says we need to do something about doggy doo-doo.
Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung wants to see more red bins to dispose of your puppy’s poop all around the city, like the ones currently in a handful of the city’s parks. There are already plans in the works to add more bins in one or two parks, but she would like to see the program expanded at a faster pace.
What should @CityofVancouver do with all that doggy doo-doo? @sarahkirby_yung wants to see more of those red bins for dog waste installed all around the city. It’s about convenience, yes, but she says is about protecting the environment. @NEWS1130 pic.twitter.com/qsj1HWsnOn
— Lauren Boothby (@laurby) May 10, 2019
Not only would it be more convenient for pet owners, she says it’s really about reducing waste headed for the dump.
“If the dog waste is going into the landfill, it’s creating methane which is a greenhouse gas, so that’s not contributing to the city’s zero waste goal,” she says.
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“If you think the fact that you have, for a conservative estimate, 55,000 dogs in the city, even at a pound a day, that’s 20 million pounds of dog poop every year, and that can have an impact.”
She says it could also help solve the problem of people not picking up after their pets.
“People want to be able to lay out and enjoy the grass. The last thing you want to be doing is sitting or stepping on an unexpected present someone’s left behind,” she says.
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Kirby-Yung is putting forward a motion at council next week asking that staff look into what it might take to get this done.
She adds finding a vendor that can process all the red bin waste might be hard to find; it’s a stinky problem that many might not be willing to solve.
“Doo-doo has to actually be separated from the bags as part of that process, so it is messy, and that’s one of the challenges is the amount of vendors out there, because there’s not many folks that are actually supplying that service,” she says.
