There’s no way that I could read an article called The Problem With Poo and not post about it, right?  At the risk of appearing poo-obsessed, I feel it’s my duty to share some really fascinating facts I just learned about the disposal of your dog’s #2.

So, all along I’ve been thinking that I’m such a good dog owner because I ALWAYS pick up Oscar’s poop.  But a study of Toronto’s public waste revealed it’s made up of a staggering 23-27% pet waste!!  And most of it is in non-biodegradable plastic bags.  Apparently, this is a problem for all major cities and I’m sure New York is no exception.  So, what to do?

Well, the people from BioBag point out that the best way to deal with pet waste is to treat it like human waste…bring it home, separate it from the paper/plastic that was used to pick it up and flush it down the toilet.  Hmm…pretty obvious, but I have to say that this solution has never occurred to me.  Also, it’s probably not going to garner widespread public adoption. 

So BioBag offers another option - they sell 100% biodegradable dog poop bags and they’re not too much more expensive than the non-recyclable version if you buy in bulk.  My recent research on Amazon came up with…

300 BioBags @ $39.99   vs.  120 Bags On Board @ $9.99

Okay, so I’m going to do my part and switch to BioBags…unfortunately I have several months of inventory of the “bad” plastic bags, so maybe it will have to be my 2009 New Year’s resolution.

Anyways, back to the article…my favorite fast fact is that San Francisco is now recycling dog waste into methane gas!!  Those crazy Califonians!  Where do they find the time??  Way to go, SF…the first no-kill city and now you’re even recycling dog poop!

If you want to learn more about the history of dog poop, check out New York’s Poop Scoop Law: Dogs, the Dirt and Due Process, by Michael Brandow, it will be available in stores this August, I can hardly wait!!