Waterloo’s dog waste bins drawing attention across North America

A dog waste bin is seen at Bechtel Park in Waterloo.

It’s only been a week since dog poop receptacles were rolled out in three Waterloo parks, but cities from across North America want the scoop.

The bins were installed by Sutera. The company’s president, Bernard Melloul, says they’ve been getting calls from Los Angeles, Vancouver and plenty of other places.

Sutera originally got the design request from another city but hailing from Waterloo, they wanted to roll out the pilot project in their home city first. You can find the bright green dog drops at Bechtel Park, Lakeshore Optimist Park and St. Moritz Park.

The city says dog waste currently fills 40 to 80 per cent of municipal garbage cans, they’re hoping these containers have the power to change that.

“Smart city energy takes many forms apparently,” says Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky. “With dog waste, it’s one of the ways of diverting it from landfill and creating clean energy. That’s something we want to do with renewable energy and that’s a smart city.”

The containers have precast concrete vessels below the ground, where the poop and hopefully stench, gets stored. Once full, they’re vacuumed out and taken to Cornerstone Renewables in Elmira, where the waste gets converted into electricity.

While the bins have already been in place for a week, Monday marked their official unveiling. Jaworsky, Melloul and other dignitaries gathered in Bechtel Park to kick off the program.