Letters to the Townsman especially in the spring often complain about the doggy doo situation on our pathways. Responsible dog owners clean up after their dogs but it is not unusual to see a dog owner gazing around with their little baggy and wondering what to do with it. Cranbrook has few, if any city dog doo disposal stations. There must be a way to improve this situation - a dollar or two extra on the license maybe or is Victoria and Nanaimo's idea worth pursuing?
Nainamo seems to have scooped up a great opportunity to reduce the cost of their existing system.
Dog doo Advertising Cuts Cost of Disposable Baggies
Enviro-Smart Biodegradable Products Takes Over City Contract for Five Years
Derek Spalding, The Daily News, Nanaimo
Published: Thursday, July 14, 2011
Bagging dog doo-doo just got tremendously cheaper in Nanaimo thanks to an opportunity to advertise on disposable dog-waste bags.
The city partnered with a private company in a deal that will nearly triple the number of dog-waste bag dispensers in dog-friendly parks. The agreement will outright eliminate the annual $25,000 bill for buying disposable bags.
Enviro-Smart Biodegradable Products will sell the city 60 new bag dispensers at a cost of about $6,000, but the company will take on the annual costs of supplying the bags. In return, Enviro-Smart can generate money by selling advertising space on the dispensers and bags. Such space could be ideal for dog daycare centres and pet supply stores.
Nanaimo's parks commission had considered raising dog licence fees to help pay for such services, but the public opposed this tactic simply because not everyone uses the service. Coun. Fred Pattje did not agree with selling advertising on doo-doo bags, but eventually he came to agree with his fellow parks commission members.
"We see this arrangement as a win all around as it allows us to redirect some maintenance funds to other worthwhile projects," said Coun. Fred Pattje. "It will increase the level of service for dog owners, help reduce the risk to the public by increasing the availability of options for proper disposal of pet waste, and organizations that purchase sponsorship space get a chance to sponsor an important community service."
The new dispensers hold more bags than the current ones, which will require less maintenance from city staff.
Nanaimo has 35 bag dispensers and purchases about 500,000 bags a year. An increased number of bags will better service approximately 10,000 dogs that live in the city.
Advertising on the biodegradable bags used to collect dog feces is not a new practice. The city borrowed the idea from Victoria, which has already moved ahead with its own cost-cutting measures. Victoria uses about 1.5 million bags per year.
Saving Nanaimo taxpayers $25,000 a year was incentive enough for Pattje to agree with this project.
"This was just one of those good ideas that works for everyone involved," he explained on Wednesday.
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