A New Use for Dog Poop

We humans may not like to talk about dog poop – but dogs aren’t as shy about their bodies’ natural functions. They do not care; when the urge strikes, they just relieve themselves, regardless of whether there is a cute dog walking right by or you are in a hurry. In France, dogs leave behind about 194 million pounds of droppings, and a great deal ends up in public places, which costs the country millions in cleanup. Researchers at Agronutrition SAS, a multimillion dollar fertilizer company, are working on making good use of this excrement.

Dog poop is a serious financial problem in Toulouse, France, and Deputy Mayor Jean-Michel Fabre says, “The majority of the people complained about dog merde. We have seven dog parks, but the dogs refused to use them.” Instead, the ornery dogs use city sidewalks and parks; about one-third of the 153 million euro sanitation budget is devoted to cleaning this up.

Monetizing dog feces would help relieve these costs, but that is not a pleasant task. In Victorian England, homeless people collected dog droppings to use in tanning leather. Today, that just won’t work. This is where Agronutrition comes in. Microbiologist Hicham Ferhout says, “We’ve finally discovered how to make a dog sh*t in a specific spot, disinfect the deposit and convert it into environmentally friendly energy or fertilizer.”

Talk about a renewable resource! Besides this, dog feces contain bacteria, zoonotic diseases, and more. The EPA puts it in the same category as toxic waste and chemicals. Cleaning it up is a must, but current methods are not ecologically sound, say experts. Toulouse and Agronutrition are working to change this, one dog at a time.