50 tonnes of dog foul collected in Derryand Strabane ends up in landfill

Fifty tonnes of dog foul collected from bins by Derry City and Strabane District Council every year ends up in landfill, the local authority has confirmed.

A spokesperson told the ‘Journal’ the mountain of dog droppings can’t be used to generate energy because it’s deposited in plastic bags.

“Any waste deposited in the dog waste bins is disposed off to landfill as the majority of the material is in non-biodegradable plastic bags,” the spokesperson said.

Last month it was revealed that the weight of around ten African elephants in dog dung is lifted from bins in Derry and Strabane annually.

Seamus Donaghy, Head of Health and Community Wellbeing at the Council, asking people not to let their pets make a mess of the city streets during the COVID-19 emergency, said: “It is important to note that the vast majority of dog owners do behave responsibly and clear up their mess as evidenced by the 50 tonnes of foul collected from bins each year in our Council area.”

While foul can be converted to energy using anaerobic digestion that collected in Derry ends up in a dump.