A crappy idea that makes sense

Pam Frampton: I spend far more time than I’d like picking up poop. My dog’s poop. And only his poop; it’s all bad enough, picked up using a disposal bag like a glove.

I spend far more time than I’d like picking up poop.

My dog’s poop. And only his poop; it’s all bad enough, picked up using a disposal bag like a glove.

That becomes particularly challenging when the dog decides he has to go and you’re a country mile from the nearest garbage can, and so you have to walk all that way holding a bag of doggie-doo, smiling blithely at passersby as if it’s perfectly natural to be out for a stroll toting a bag of poop and — gosh darn it — enjoying it.

It’s not quite as bizarre a sight as my husband must have been the morning he took a measuring cup to the park in order to collect a urine sample from our dog — ever tried that? Luckily, he didn’t encounter anyone and only had to do it the one time.

So, another day, another bag of poop tossed into the trashcan. I confess I haven’t spent a lot of time wondering what happens to it once it leaves my possession.

But a news story I read on Monday has me thinking about poop with whole new respect.

Who knew the power it could unleash! Who realized the full scope of scooped-poop’s potential?

Well, as it turns out, an American company called

Sutera.

It combines science and technology to turn dog waste into fuel and fertilizer, thereby removing canine crap from the regular waste stream and using its powers for good instead of odoriferous evil.

“Bacteria and viruses in dog waste can survive for up to 4 years, long after the pile of waste has washed away or ‘disappeared,’” says the Sutera website. “In fact, testing of average sidewalks where dogs are commonly walked showed extremely high levels of bacteria transferred from the dogs’ feet and onto human shoes. … One gram of dog waste can contain 23 million fecal coliform bacteria…”

Not exactly a cheery thought. Sutera says doggie-doo that deteriorates in the environment and gets washed away can end up in watersheds and contaminate water supplies.

The company also points out that dog waste tossed into a garbage can containing recyclables ends up contaminating the whole lot and renders bottles and cans no longer suitable to be recycled. Whereas, if dog poop weren’t thrown in with the trash, recyclables could be sorted from the garbage.

With the company’s system, bags of dog waste are tossed into special receptacles in high dog traffic areas, which empty into underground tanks. Those tanks are cleaned of their contents periodically and the waste goes into an intake pit with other organic materials, such as food waste. The foul mix simmers and cooks until the bacteria goes to work and creates biogas, which can be processed and then used to run a generator to produce heat or electricity. The remnants of the waste, known as “digestate,” can be used as fertilizer.

“This process kills 100% of all pathogens, removes odours, and captures greenhouse gases from the input material,” Sutera states.

You can see a graphic explaining how it works here: http://www.suterausa.com/ poop-power-101

Sutera has joined forces with Waterloo, Ont., to “repurpose” dog waste in that city of approximately 100,000 people.

When Mayor Dave Jaworsky was interviewed by the Canadian Press, he was sounding pumped about the poop’s potential.

“It’s actually a big issue, dog waste. If you look at our municipal litter bins ... it’s 40 to 80 per cent dog waste,” he said. “In rural townships, this isn’t an uncommon technique to deal with manure and that kind of thing. So, it’s really just bringing the rural technology to the urban environment.”

It makes good sense, and is an idea worth pondering in dog-loving cities like St. John’s and Mount Pearl.

In Waterloo, the pilot project will get started in the coming weeks. If it works and the usable byproducts make it worth the investment, perhaps we, too, can consider cutting the crap out of our waste stream.

Let’s at least keep an open mind, before we start poohpoohing it.

Sorry. Just couldn’t resist that last one.

Pam Frampton is The Telegram’s associate managing editor. Email pframpton@thetelegram.com. Twitter: pam_frampton