They’re tall, they’re lime green, and they’re mounted on specialized platforms.
All in all, they may look a little bit out of place in three of Waterloo’s parks.
Their purpose, though, is one that could keep the parks cleaner, stop contamination of recycling bins, and create energy from something otherwise unwanted.
The bins were installed last week in Bechtel Park, Lakeshore Optimist Park and St. Moritz Park.
They are meant for dog waste – which city officials have said makes up as much as 80 per cent of parks’ garbage loads.
Once collected, the waste will be taken to a facility in Elmira where it will be converted into green energy.
People walking their dogs in Bechtel Park on Tuesday seemed to like the concept, although some were surprised the receptacles didn’t have any information explaining what would happen to the waste after it was taken away.
Kayla Hoffele said she had heard about cases where an entire recycling load in a park had ended up unusable because of dog waste deposited in it.
“It’s nice to hear that it will be disposed of in a better way,” she said.
With reporting by Stu Gooden
