Lisburn News

Local woman's unique solution for dealing with dirty dogs

by STACEY HEANEY

Erica Lund US2012-114A0

A MOIRA woman has suggested a unique way to stop the mess created by dog fouling across the Lisburn area, as well as putting the waster to good use.

Erica Lund contacted the Star after spotting an article in the Daily Telegraph in which a county council in North Wales has signed up to a new scheme, the first of its kind in Britain, in which dog mess is converted into electricity under the pioneering new scheme.

Erica said: "There is quite a lot of mess where I live and there is also a Primary School nearby, which creates more problems with the wheels of tricycles or scooters cycling through the mess going to school. Obviously the bigger the dog, the bigger the mess is; it just takes one or two dogs to make a big problem.

The new scheme by Flintshire county council will take four tons of dog waste a day to make the scheme commercially viable. It was the brainchild of Gary Downie, who came up with the idea after tiring of pushing his baby's pram through messy parks and streets.

Mr Downie set up StreetKleen, and he and his business partner Christopher Dunn have designed 'dog stations' - receptacles with biodegradable bags - which will be placed around the county on trial.

The collected waste will then be broken down by micro-organisms through the process of anaerobic digestion to produce a biogas which can be used to generate electricity.

Erica added: I don't see why this couldn't work here. I had my stepson's dog come to stay recently and was cleaning up the garden and even just one day's deposit was quite heavy - perhaps four ton per day is not such a high target.

"Obviously somebody would have to regularly clear the stations, but anything that you can recycle would be a good thing. I think the council should just go for it and keep Lisburn tidy.

Anything that can be done to clean up the streets would be a good thing. If this is something that works and is a good idea then Lisburn should latch onto it."

The issue of dog fouling across the Lisburn area has been something which has seen many
local people contact the Star, especially since Lisburn City council unveiled new tough measures late last year to issue fines to those not cleaning up after their dogs.

stacey.heaney@ulsterstar.co.uk

Ulster Star
18/05/2012