SF launches program to compost dog poop

Mark Williams, the vice president of market development at BioBag, speaks about the new initiative to use compostable bags and specific bins for dog waste, at Starr King Open Space park in San Francisco. Mark Williams, the vice president of market development at BioBag, speaks about the new initiative to use compostable bags and specific bins for dog waste, at Starr King Open Space park in San Francisco. Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close SF launches program to compost dog poop 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

San Francisco has a lot of dogs — about 120,000 — and that means 32 million pounds of puppy poop produced each year, with the vast majority of it going into the landfill.

A new program, launched Sunday at the Starr King Open Space, would help divert the dog waste into compost with the use of compostable poop bags. It’s the first dog waste composting program in the city and possibly in California, according to officials from BioBags, which is partnering with the community’s open space board to provide compostable bags, bins and a pick-up service.

“We tried to start this dog waste collection initiative at Duboce Park and BioBag even offered to pay the cost for the first year but the city department in charge of the park would not allow it,” said Mark Williams, vice president of market development at BioBag, in a statement. “So we’re happy the folks at the Starr King Open Space took us up on our offer to demonstrate this is an effective way to reduce landfill for Zero Waste objectives.”