An innovative group of dog lovers from Port Elliot, South Australia, recently teamed up with pet researcher Dr. Janette Young from the University of South Australia.

The team devised a 12-week project to trial green waste collection at their local dog park, survey dog owner attitudes, behavior and poo practices, and educate pet owners about compostable bags and home composting.

In collaboration with Alexandrina Council, compostable dog bag dispensers were installed at the park along with a dedicated poo bin, picked up weekly by a green organic truck.

Here’s the full story.

Halifax – which already collects pet waste as part of its residential green bin program – will be trying something new according new in 2021.

The details are still being worked out, but a dog waste composting pilot project scuttled by the pandemic could soon move ahead as more people — and more dog poop — fill local trails and parks.

“We are going to try a trial hopefully at some point this year. COVID’s been a bit of a challenge there,” Kirk Symonds, team lead-education and program delivery with HRM Solid Waste Resources, said in an interview.

“What we’re going to do is we’re going to take a park somewhere in HRM and we’re going to set up bins that are specifically for dog feces, and that’s going to make it easier for us to actually compost it.”

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Before initiating pet waste composting pilot programs, the Nova Scotia Resource Recovery Fund Board commissioned a study to ensure viability and safety. Here is a summary.

“Evaluation of cat litter and dog feces (CLDF) as compost feedstock reveals that this material is suitable. It does not contain excessive sodium, contains low levels of plant nutrients and contributes beneficially to the water holding capacity of compost. Current pathogen standards can be met for CLDF composting if required temperatures are achieved. Pharmaceutical residue issues in CLDF are similar to those for biosolids and animal manure composting which greatly reduce their concentrations. There are no compelling reasons to not compost CLDF based on the chemical and biological aspects of the material.

“A consideration of current practices in Nova Scotia reveals that the one facility that does compost CLDF has encountered no problems associated with processing it or meeting pathogen standards”

https://divertns.ca/assets/files/CLDF-REPORT.pdf

When Ryan Torres, Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) assistant VP of Parks Operations, said, “We should compost the dog waste from the runs,” at an all-staff meeting, everyone was taken aback, but nobody was skeptical.

After the initial shock and disbelief, the proposal that Torres made last summer started making sense to the staff. The staff spent a week collecting data to back up her idea, so she came to the table prepared.

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Woofs to Stephanie Chow owner of Pet Poo Skiddoo in Ashville, NC! She’s composting dog waste her company picks up using an Earth Cube made by Green Mountain Technology. “Now your dog’s waste can go back to nature rather than into a landfill,” she says.  Here’s her video.

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Pet Poo Skiddoo

The Lafayette Parks, Recreation & Open Space Department, in collaboration with the Lafayette Waste Reduction Committee, is pleased to announce the launch of a pilot dog waste composting program at the Great Bark Dog Park. Dog waste can be challenging for communities to deal with, and most of it ends up in landfills where it contributes to emissions from methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Nationwide, pet dogs produce over 10 million tons of poop each year, and Lafayette wants to do what we can to minimize our contribution. More to bark about.

Currently, dog waste is collected in plastic bags that do not quickly or easily break down, so diverting the waste from landfill has become a priority for the city. Vancouver is considering a contracted service or partnership to tackle dog waste using automated waste de-bagging with methods to separate the waste from bags for processing, direct injection into the city sewage system for processing at waste plants, anaerobic digestion or composting.

Here’s the scoop.

Comparative Analysis of Dog Waste Processing Methods for Metro Vancouver

Ottawa residents may begin dumping dog feces, cat litter and plastic bags filled with organic waste into their green bins starting on July 2, 2019. The inclusion of plastic bags and pet waste in the municipal composting program has been in the works for months, after the last city council approved the change in late March 2018.

The city hopes the change will incentivize more households to participate in the green bin program. Heavier use of green bins “will divert more organic materials from the landfill and significantly extend its life,” according to the municipality.

According to a study commissioned by the city, just over 60 per cent of respondents said they were more likely to use the green bins after plastic bags and dog waste were permitted.

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A contract between the city and its waste hauler, Orgaworld, included dog waste and plastic in its residential green bin program. Items in green bins are diverted from the landfill and streamed to the company’s compost site. The agreement states that diapers will still be sent to the dump. But that possibly doesn’t align with provincial plans, with Ontario eyeing a move to get diapers out of the regular waste stream as early as 2022. Read the full story.