The problem of dog piles remains relevant in the spring
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The first March warmth caused the Moscow snowdrifts to melt. Following this, not snowdrops appeared in the thawed areas at all, but what usually melts out of the snow – heaps of dogs. And in most districts of Moscow there really are a lot of them: experiments with dog bags that began vigorously in the pre-Covid years were de facto curtailed during the pandemic. Why this situation has arisen and whether it is possible to solve this problem with little expense – MK found out
The situation with cleaning up after dogs while they are walking – and it is clear that this is the only way to guarantee the absence of piles on the lawns – is approximately the same as with separate waste collection in Moscow. Conscious citizens have been separating them for many years, but there are still many who throw out garbage without sorting, almost more than those who do. And the propaganda of separate collection, which reached its peak at the beginning of Covid 2020, has died down: we all seem to have more important things to do and reasons to worry.
Meanwhile, the March lawns have already begun to once again prove the validity of the old saying: spring really shows who shit where. And how many cultural dog lovers are there in which area (those who go for a walk with a bag and a scoop), and how many are everyone else?
“The culture of dog walkers greatly depends on the area,” says Olga, a student who works part-time as a dog walker. — I walked dogs two years ago in Tekstilshchiki, now I work in the Gagarinsky district and Khamovniki. And it feels like the difference is colossal: in rich, intelligent areas, 90 percent of owners carry bags. Me too, of course. And in the “proletarian” areas, about half of them clean up after the dog, and the other half do not.
According to MK’s interlocutor, there are two problems here: in addition to the usual disgust (often it is simply unpleasant for people to bend over to a pile of “manure” to put it in a bag), there is added the lack of a city system of “cultural cleaning up after the dog.” Moreover, in theory it exists – at least in parks and squares there are often racks for biodegradable bags. But usually there are no packages themselves – the dog owners interviewed by MK have not seen packages loaded into these racks for many months. Although the relevant city services did not report the cessation of the campaign…
“The bags can be biodegradable plastic or paper,” a retail chain of pet products told MK. — They are sold individually, in packages, and together with dispensers. Buyers are not only individuals, but also organizations: for example, homeowners’ associations, management companies of cottage villages. Those who are interested in cleanliness in the entrusted territory.
Each group of packages has fans. Plastic ones are lighter and more compact, and also more reliable; paper ones are visibly more environmentally friendly and look better (and also hide the contents). Some of the paper ones, when filled, are somewhat similar to shawarma packaging (only instead of a product, there is a picture of a dog on the package).
“It makes sense for management companies to immediately purchase a special closed bin for dog waste,” said representatives of the pet store. — There are two arguments here: firstly, in ordinary trash cans, crows and pigeons peck at dog waste, and rats open it. And secondly, according to the rules, biological waste must be disposed of in a special way. And the balance holder of the territory is responsible for this disposal.
By the way, it’s worth remembering that a fairly powerful and productive campaign to improve dog-walking culture was cut short a few years ago by several scandals related to the punishment of city residents for improper disposal of “biological waste.” Moreover, it was alleged (this was also in the spring of 2020, against the backdrop of the unfolding fight against Covid) that violators of hazardous waste disposal standards were identified using surveillance cameras.
At the same time, in Moscow, as throughout Russia, polluting public spaces (walking dogs without a bag can be classified as such) is, of course, punishable – the fine under the Code of Administrative Offenses ranges from 1,000 to 2,000 rubles. But violation of hazardous waste disposal standards “costs” 4–5 thousand rubles according to the regional Administrative Code.
“Although there is no federal regulation banning the throwing of dog waste into ordinary trash bins, in Moscow, in the absence of special bins, dog owners can only be advised to take the excrement with them and throw it away at home,” says lawyer Alexey Golubev.
Interestingly, there is an alternative point of view on this type of urban waste: many believe that dog piles on lawns – similar to manure – are more of a fertilizer than hazardous waste. In its original form, definitely not, says landscape designer Alena Nikiforova. “Dog waste can actually be a fertilizer source, just like any other feces,” says the expert. “But this does not mean that they can be applied to the soil directly. We can only talk about composting them, mixing them with other types of organic matter and using them after a few years, in a rotten form.”
Substances useful for the soil – nitrogen and phosphorus – are indeed present in feces, confirms Nikiforova. However, firstly, their concentration is too high for a tiny patch of land: gradually absorbing into the soil, the dog pile simply burns the soil. And secondly, parasites are found in fresh dog “manure”.
…Still, there is something deeply wrong with sending more than 700 bags per dog to landfill every year – even if these bags are biodegradable. But “decorating” lawns with feces is, perhaps, even worse. The most progressive dog breeders, by the way, have come up with an almost ideal way: to carry with you not a disposable bag, but a reusable container, usually made from a plastic bottle… When you come home, you wash it off where it’s supposed to be, and wash the “tray”.
But is it worth calling for such a pinnacle of everyday culture among Muscovites – so far even sachets in a number of districts are only half used?
Newspaper headline:
Russian field of excrement
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