PARRSBORO - They have been in place since last fall, but the town’s “dog boxes” are not being used properly by all, according to Taylor Redmond.
The 12 boxes, installed at various places around Parrsboro, provide biodegradable bags to dog owners so they can collect their pet’s droppings and help keep the sidewalks and properties in town tidy. From there, however, the message sometimes gets confused.
“We ask people to pick up after their dogs, use the bags and then put them in the garbage,” said Redmond, the town’s project’s facilitator. “It doesn’t go into recycle, it doesn’t get left on the street, it actually goes into garbage bins.”
Some dog owners have used the bags to pick up after their dog, but then placed the full bags back into the box where they got the bag, according to Redmond. She emphasized that those blue boxes are only used to supply the empty bags.
The boxes were being refilled with bags this week.
“We were a little low for awhile, so maybe that’s why people thought they were supposed to put stuff back in them,” she said.
If dog owners notice a particular box getting low on bags, she said they could contact town hall at 254-2036 to let them know.
The dog boxes were installed after the town received complaints from residents about dogs leaving their mark on their property.
“It’s an issue everywhere, and it tends to be more of an issue on main streets because it’s more focused, and stands out more,” she said.
The green bags are biodegradable, and made in Canada, according to Redmond, who has been selling them herself for the past six years.
“I started because I read about the tonnage of plastic bags in Sobeys bags that was being put into the landfills, and it was enormous,” she said. “And those bags don’t biodegrade or break down in the landfill.”
She tried 70 per cent of all biodegradable bags on the market, and said none break down like the green bag now being used in Parrsboro. Even if left on the grass, she said these bags biodegrade in the timespan of a leaf.
