Bag it & Bin it campaign ramps up

Waterford City and County Council has launched a new ‘Bag it & Bin it’ anti-dog fouling campaign in conjunction with Carlow, Kilkenny and Wexford County Councils.

The campaign, which will run for the rest of 2021, asks dog owners to clean up after their dog and follows local outcries for something to be done about the major increase of dog fouling in the West Waterford area.

Those involved in the initiative are also asking that dog owners make sure that that they bring their own dog waste bags with them while out walking, rather than relying on the publicly available ones.

“Publicly available bags are supposed to be used only by those people who have forgotten their own and not to supply a weekly bundle to dog owners,” a spokesperson said.

Speaking at the recent launch of the campaign, Mayor of the City and County of Waterford Cllr Damien Geoghegan, said that dog fouling ‘ has a big impact on others who use our public spaces - children, walkers, wheelchair users, runners, ball players, etc.’

“Whether you walk your dog on a street, in a park or on a beach, the message is simple… Bag it & Bin it. If you don’t pass a bin on your walk home, then simply put the bag in your black bin when you reach your house,” he said.

WEST WATERFORD INITIATIVE

Locally, anti-dog fouling efforts are also ramping up with West Waterford towns of Tallow, Lismore, Cappoquin and Ballyduff linking up and preparing to launch a number of new initiatives.

Speaking with TheAvondhu, local Councillor John Pratt said that the combined West Waterford group ‘as a unit, have a few things feeding into the Bag it & Bin it campaign’.

Currently, the group are arranging online meetings via Zoom as preparations are made for their upcoming projects.

Anti-dog fouling projects in the works for the group include and campaign video, which is yet to be launched, as well as a clean-up of local black-spot areas.

“We are meeting over Zoom at the minute but we will be doing more over the next few weeks,” Cllr Pratt said.

If you would like to report dog fouling or if your group would like to join others in working on this campaign, call 0761 102020.