Fatal and much more problematic than, for example, with shopping bags: dog owners understandably like to walk their dog in green spaces or by the water – in other words, where it is particularly painful when the bags get into the environment. Especially in water it is often impossible to get the bags back from the environment. In addition, many dog ​​waste bags are even willfully disposed of.

It would be best if the bags and dog waste do not end up in the environment in the first place – regardless of whether it is conventional plastic or biodegradable material. In 2015 we therefore started with the “Poop Bag Map” what is probably the largest study to date on the subject of dog waste bags in the environment. This is an interactive map in which users could enter the places where they found dog waste bags in the environment. In the course of this, we also started a large clean-up campaign in a densely populated residential area of ​​Hamburg, where over 500 dog waste bags could be retrieved from nature. We were accompanied by the NDR (Northern German Broadcasting), among others.

With this environmental project, we were able to reach over 7 million contacts through reporting in various media and thus contribute significantly to raising public awareness of the problem. In addition, we were able to enable cities and municipalities with the data material obtained to optimize the rubbish bin locations. In the course of this, however, it has also become apparent that this optimization can reduce the environmental input, but cannot completely avoid it, and that there is therefore a need for a more holistic solution.