Waterloo to turn dog poop into power, through new pilot program

The Ontario city best known for headquarteringBlackBerry may soon be known for an entirely different commodity dog poop.

Waterloo will soon be the home of a pilot program that will turndog waste into energy, using a process called anaerobic digestionthat happens when organic waste breaks down in an environmentwithout oxygen.

The city's mayor, Dave Jaworsky, said this is one the first timesthis sort of program which he jokingly calls "poop power" - willbe implemented in a Canadian city.

• 'It's gross': Dog poop diversion business booming for Metro Vancouver contractor

Jaworsky said it's eco-friendly and should help curb the amountof litter produced by the city of about 100,000 people.

"It's actually a big issue, dog waste. If you look at ourmunicipal litter bins ... it's 40 to 80 per cent dog waste," hesaid, adding that the city collects about 115,000 kilograms of trashevery year.

He said the process for harvesting dog waste and turning it intopower is fairly simple and it's not entirely new.

"In rural townships, this isn't an uncommon technique to dealwith manure and that kind of thing," he says. "So, it's really just bringing the rural technology to the urban environment."

Special dog waste receptacles

It works like this: a dog-owner walking their pet will scoop upits waste, just like they would normally. But instead of throwingthe bag into a trash can, they pop it into one of these specialreceptacles.

Jaworsky said they look something like a "rural post box" butthey're bright green, and the opening is dog-shaped.

The bags of dog poop are stored in an underground container for10 to 14 days, Jaworsky said, and then vacuumed out and sent to aprocessing plant outside of the city, where it will be combined withother organic waste.

Through anaerobic digestion, it will create a biogas, which canthen be burned for heat and energy. Any of the leftover waste isthen used for fertilizer.

Idea comes from local resident

Jaworsky said the idea came from a local man, who works ingeneral construction and owns a dog.

"He just thought, you know, 'There must be a better way to dothings,' and came up with this idea," he said.

He said the man took the idea to the American groundwaste companySutera, which will be running the pilot.

Jaworsky said the program may expand into other cities acrossNorth America.

The project will begin rolling out in the coming weeks in threeparks throughout the city including a leash-free dog park.