Dog poo from Cape Town beaches grows trees

The Scarborough Environmental Group collects tons of dog poop at beaches and uses it to create compost for planting trees. The group’s education head Hannah Hopper said anything that was organic could be composted and dog poo was no exception.

“The benefits of using dog poop are twofold. First, less waste ends up going to landfill,” said Hopper. “This is good because we have a landfill crisis and organic matter like dog poo contributed to leeched and methane gas pollution, which is 20 times more warming than carbon dioxide.”

“Secondly, we are turning free “waste” into a useful resource for planting indigenous

trees.“

Hopper adds that vermicomposting seemed like a simple and effective way to manage the challenges or repurposing dog poo because it is organic matter that can be treated in the same way as food scraps. Vermicomposting can be used to process dog poo and create nutrient-dense fertilizer.

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