'It's just laziness': Dog poop bags annoy Fredericton trail users
Dog owners may misunderstand meaning of ‘biodegradable bags,' says professor
Dog poop bags are popping up around trails and parks in Fredericton, and some trail users are tired of it.
"It's just laziness," said Marc Voisine, who walked his dog at Odell Park in Fredericton on Wednesday.
Voisine said that he found a bag while he was walking near the Fredericton Botanic Garden. There are plenty of garbage cans around, and there's no reason to leave the trails a mess, he said.
"They're plastic [bags], and they're just going to stay and kind of ruin the environment."
Tony Walker, a specialist in plastic pollution at Dalhousie University, thinks that people leave these bags along trails because they believe the bags are compostable.
"I'm finding them hanging off trees, thrown deep into the woods, or two or three or 10 metres into the woods. These are not intended to be picked up," he said.
He went for a walk on a trail in Halifax and found more than 50 in 10 minutes. He published a paper last week to bring attention to the issue, and to suggest to people that, if they think these bags will decompose in the environment, that's not how it works.
These bags carry a biodegradable label, he said, but they can only be broken down in industrial compost facilities at high temperatures and under controlled conditions. There are very few of those facilities in North America.
Plus, because of the label, they are allowed to contain up to 25 per cent fossil-fuel-based, petroleum plastics.
"They just break down faster, and then they make microplastics, but quicker," said Walker.
Biodegradable means that something will degrade and break down in the environment. It does not mean the same thing as compostable.
"It's very confusing because they still use 'bio' because it's a greenwashing label. If you've got 'bio' in anything, it just seems natural and organic and good for the environment," he said.
In an email, Walker said that even bags labelled compostable can still contain plastics, which are harmful for the environment.
"If it doesn't say '100 per cent bio-based' on the package, it likely contains some plastics," he wrote in an email.
Em Allen walked their dog at Odell Park on Wednesday and, as usual, carried poop bags with them.
Typically, when Allen goes out, Allen said, they see discarded poop bags once or twice per walk.
"It's kind of gross. I mean, I get upset because I'm somebody who carries them around. So to just see them lying on the side of the trail when I'm, you know, carrying mine up the trail to the nearest garbage can.
"It's not pleasant, and I know that, but I feel like it's kind of part of the responsibility to take care of the park and your dog."
Matthew Flanagan jogged through Odell Park recently without a dog, but he used to have a pit bull.
He said that if people don't take care of their pets and pick up after them, public, dog-friendly spaces could start disappearing.
"I've seen one sort of just thrown onto the side of the trail, a poop bag, and I've seen one that wasn't even picked up. Somebody just left it kind of in the middle of the trail," said Flanagan. "I've only been in the park for zero minutes."
Neil Trebble, Fredericton trails foreman, takes care of trails around the city and ski trails near Killarney Park. He said that people leaving dog poop bags around trails and parks is an ongoing issue, and that there are enough garbage cans for people to properly dispose of them.
There are about 25 to 30 garbage bins at Odell Park, Trebble said. There are some issues with accessing garbage bins in the wintertime around the perimeter of Killarney Park, for instance.
Garbage collection crews clean the trails three to four times a week, Trebble said, to make sure trails are clean.
Littering problems go "above and beyond" dog poop, he said. People leave pop bottles, chip bags, and other garbage that belongs in a trash bin.
It's frustrating that people put it in bags before they leave it, he said, because those bags will take years to decompose, and he has no idea why people would do that.
"People have to have a responsibility for not just themselves, but they should have a responsibility for the community. And if you're going to be a pet owner, you have to have responsibility for your pet as well," he said.
City says residents 'insist' on littering
In an emailed statement, Brad Cameron, director of communications for the City of Fredericton, said the city issues "a number of tickets" for people who have violated the city's bylaws about picking up dog poop.
"Despite the bylaw, signage, social media, common sense and general respect for others, some residents insist on taking the time to bag up their [dogs'] business, carry it with them and then discard the bag along the trail or in parks," the statement said.
"There aren't people wandering around without the knowledge that you're suppose to clean up after your pet when you do that."
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