Volunteers frustrated by 'appalling' dog poo bags left on Adelaide trails

Volunteers frustrated by 'appalling' act of leaving poo bags on Adelaide trails They resemble plastic-wrapped presents dotted along popular walking trails, only their contents are anything but joyful. In fact, they are filled with dog poo and are commonplace in parks and beaches in and around Adelaide, left on paths, placed on tree stumps and benches, or even hanging from branches like sickly Christmas Tree baubles. They are often left by people who do not fancy hauling about a bundle of their best friend's faeces and presumably plan to collect them on the way back from a stroll. But far too many are forgotten, perhaps conveniently, and left to somebody else to pick up, usually volunteers with better things to do. "It's appalling," said Keep South Australia Beautiful chief executive Wendy Bevan. "If you have a dog and you go for a walk, you take your dog poo bags with you. If you cannot find a bin, you take them home with you." She said that while some people genuinely forgot and did not remember until they arrived home, that should be a reminder not to do it again next time. "If you don't want to walk along swinging a dog poo bag for the rest of your walk, take a bigger bag that you can put them in, or tie them to the lead or do whatever other people do,"Ms Bevan said. "It's part of having a dog, isn't it?" She further pointed out that while most dog poo bags today were compostable, they would not compost if left on the ground and needed to be placed into a green bin with other compostable organic matter. Faeces bags are 'littering' A Department for Environment and Water spokesperson said discarding bags of dog faeces in national parks was "littering, regardless of whether it was compostable or biodegradable". "Compostable bags require specific conditions to break down and should not be left in parks or natural areas,"the spokesperson said. People who litter in national parks face a $75 fine, plus a $108 victims of crime levy, while the maximum penalty if they elect to be prosecuted is $,1000. "Regulations and penalties are periodically reviewed as part of broader legislative reforms," the spokesperson said. 'Plastered in it' Ron Bellchambers is a community engagement and project officer for the Brownhill Creek Association in Adelaide's foothills. He noticed a marked increase in the number of bags dumped along trails during 2020 COVID-19 restrictions when more people were outdoors. He said people were also stashing them in hollow logs, or even the tree guards volunteers had installed to protect plantings, "as if it's a garbage bin". "I guess the positive thing is, given the volume of people that come up here, most people are doing the right thing," Mr Bellchambers said. "Otherwise we'd be up to our necks in them. "But certainly there's a sizeable number of people who are just leaving the bags." He said the dog walkers would pick up the droppings in a bag, but then put it down "as if they're going to pick it up later, then go on their walk and on the way back they don't pick the bag up". "It's frustrating for volunteers, particularly if I'm brush-cutting and hit the stuff and just sort of end up getting plastered in it,"Mr Bellchambers said. "And, of course, we've got young school kids up here doing volunteer work as well, so it's not the greatest of things. "It's not out of control, but it does require volunteers to pick them up."