Dog poop power now fully operation in Waterloo

Your dog’s poop, can now be turned into power. Special receptacles have been installed in three parks in Waterloo, which will turn your dog’s waste into energy.

Those parks are Bechtel Park, Lakeshore Optimist Park in north Waterloo, and St. Moritz Park in the Clair Hills area.

The city is the first municipality to try out this new dog waste program, which will be able to divert about 250 thousand lbs. of dog poop out of landfills.

The concept is simple, dog waste dropped into the receptacles are then picked up by a vacuum truck, and taken to a plant in Elmira.

“90 days later, we have bio-gas which is used to produce energy, and we have fertilizer for our crops,” says Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky.

The waste is processed by Cornerstone Renewables. Travis Woolings with Cornerstone says this is a better method than allow dog waste to sit in landfills.

“Its a much, much better way to handle organics as opposed to just putting it in a pile with other organics where it sits and eventually goes to a landfill.”

The special waste recepticales are designed by Sutera in-ground waste containment.

Sutera says they have had inquiries about the product from all across Canada and the United States, and will likely be popping up in more cities soon.