Welcome to BioBag’s Community Heroes series! Each month, we will highlight community heroes that are making a difference in their communities and working to make their local environments cleaner and healthier.
This month, we are taking a look at the Enviro Pet Waste Network!
The Enviro Pet Waste Network (EPWN) connects people and communities that are successfully diverting pet waste from landfills with those who want to learn how to develop similar programs in their own cities and towns. One program within the Network, EnviroWagg, is highlighted in the video above and composts dog waste from dog daycares, hiking trails, and dog parks in the Denver Metro area. We spoke to EnviroWagg’s manager Rose Seemann about EPWN, which you can learn more about in the interview below.
What led you to start your composting operation?
Seemann: Dogs and cats in the United States produce around 180 million tons of waste per year. That amounts to 159 football fields 10 feet deep! Each year! (See infographic). That’s 12% of the national residential waste stream that could be returned to the soil or transformed to energy, but it’s overlooked by policy-makers. EPWN brings together people sustainably managing pet waste with others heading in that direction.
Who do you serve, and how can people get in touch with you if they want to start composting?
Seemann: EPWN serves people worldwide with resources that can help them keep pet poop in the loop. To learn more about do-it-yourself pet waste composting and advocacy for community composting, visit https://epwn.org.
What are the environmental benefits of pet waste composting?
Seemann: Around half of pet waste goes to landfills with comingled plastic. There it emits methane – a potent greenhouse gas – while slowly decomposing. In the US, landfills account for more than 17% of all methane emissions. Abandoned dog waste can also do serious damage to waterways, hiking trails, beaches and parks. Diverting pet waste is one piece of a huge eco puzzle that needs to be addressed if we want to achieve zero waste.
Feel free to add any additional information about your operation as you see fit.
Seemann: EPWN kicked off in 2021 and we already have starter groups in the US and Australia.
Anything special going on that you would like for us to share?
Seemann: For more information on EPWN, please click here.
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If you would like to be featured in a future edition of Community Heroes, please email us at marketing@biobagusa.com.
