Innovative Ways Countries are Addressing Dog Waste
Dog feces are overwhelming cities and neighborhoods. Many businesses and municipalities have installed pet waste receptacles and bag dispensers to help alleviate the problem. While that’s the preferred method in South Florida and across the U.S., some cities and countries are resorting to innovative, and sometimes shocking, campaigns to encourage people to dispose of dog waste.
Surveys show that dog owners in the UK are most likely to pick up their dog’s feces, followed by the U.S. and Spain. Pet owners in France are the least likely to collect their dog’s droppings. In the Netherlands, a startup is working on a drone equipped with a camera and thermal energy technology that searches for animal waste. It then sends in a robot to clean up the mess.
Spain
Offenders in Madrid can pay a fine of $1,500 or serve as substitute street cleaners. Tarragona uses DNA testing to match droppings with dogs. Colmenar Viejo used private detectives to shadow dog owners and catch them on video. Offenders were fined by police.
A suburb of Madrid boxed up dog feces and mailed them to offenders – a campaign that improved poop pickups by 70 percent. Some Mexico City parks are trading Wi-Fi minutes for feces based on the weight of the dog droppings turned in.
England In Bristol, the city put up posters with a child’s face smeared with a brown substance next to an image of dog poo. The caption read “Children will put anything in their mouths.” In Chester, the city is converting pet waste into methane gas to power street lights and even homes. A similar project was initiated in Cambridge, MA.
The Blackburn City Council publicly posted the names and photos of people not cleaning up after their pets. The name and shame campaign enlisted the public’s help in capturing images of people leaving their dog droppings. Volunteers in Gloucestershire painted dog feces bright orange that was left to decompose, a method also used in Corvallis, OR.
Taiwan New Taipei City authorities gave residents 1 ticket for a cash lottery for each bag of dog droppings they turned in. It was a resounding success.
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