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Vancouver Has 6,900 Tonnes of Dog Poop And Isn’t Quite Sure How To Deal With It

dog poop in vancouver

City officials are currently accepting proposals for what to do with tons of dog poop in Vancouver.

According to the City’s website, they are “seeking information from vendors with expertise in technologies, solutions, or services that could potentially be used for processing of dog waste”.

RELATED: Dog Owner To Sue City of North Vancouver After Dog Was Electrocuted On Sidewalk

Documents highlight that the dog population in Vancouver is “estimated at between 32,000 and 55,000”. This creates between 1,400 and 6,900 tonnes of dog waste each year.

In addition, of this total, approximately 400 tonnes of this waste flowing through our park litter stream.

“The challenges posed by dog waste within waste collection streams are numerous” reads a City of Vancouver document.

“First, dog waste contains pathogens that are potentially harmful to humans and to the environment. Next, dog waste is a concentrated producer of greenhouse gases as it breaks down. Lastly, dog waste generally is collected in plastic bags that do not quickly or effectively break down. For all of these reasons, diverting this waste from landfill is a high priority”.

RELATED: Garbage Canada Shipped To The Philippines Has Returned To BC, 6 Years Later

Back in 2016, the City of Vancouver began a pilot project to separately collect and process dog
waste in a couple of local parks. At this point, City staff process and collect approximately 25 tonnes of dog waste annually, from 8 City parks.

This dog waste is collected by a contractor “before being manually sorted and disposed of at a local wastewater treatment facility”.

If you have any information or ideas that the City of Vancouver might benefit from, you can submit an application. The deadline is September 17th, 2019 (3:00 p.m.).

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