Residents
Pet Waste
Did you know there are an estimated 60 million dogs in the United states. An average dog drops an average of three quarter pounds of waste daily. That’s 16.4 pounds per year! When pet waste is left on the ground or disposed of improperly, water quality and your health may be at risk. Stormwater runoff can pick up pet waste as it washes down storm drains and drainage ditches and into our creeks, rivers and lakes.
Tips for Dealing with Pet Waste
- Attach a small bag or pouch to your dog’s leash so that you can always carry a supply of baggies.
- Be creative in reusing materials for picking up pet droppings! Save plastic bread bags, plastic newspaper sleeves, or plastic produce bags and use them as scooping baggies.
- Once a week, clean up droppings around your yard and dispose of in the trash can. Pet waste composters are available commercially. Check them out!
- When using a baggie or plastic bag, slip it over your hand like a mitt, pick up the droppings, hold a top corner of the bag with your other hand, and quickly flip it inside-out. Then, dispose of it in a trash can.
Pledge
Take action and pledge to do the right thing by picking up after your dog while on a walk or around your yard and disposing of the waste properly.