I commend the cities that are making an effort to do something about this unhygienic issue by providing bags to assist owners to take responsibility for properly disposing of the waste. Only!! I wish they could’ve approached the issue by thinking a little bit beyond just the poo prob.

These sac à dog dog bags come from a company that also makes the dispensers but the bags are not biodegradable bags. Doh! In fact, their website talks about how convenient it is to use plastic bags you get at the supermarket. That is no good! Plastic bags like this filled with poo will not biodegrade. I suppose the saving grace is that by 2010 is that supermarkets in France will be required to use biobags made of a derivative or corn. But until then, why oh why can’t they use bags that biodegrade in about 40 days like these bags (BioBag Canada, you rule!)? I couldn’t find any companies in France that made bags like this but I will do some more research on it. (we usually pick up bags in the U.S. and bring them back to France.)

Back to France. What does this mean? Within 4 years the dog poo in these particular bags will go to a landfill but won’t break down because of the bags. 4 years of dog poo going nowhere, people! The big disconnect for me is that France this year released another campaign concerning reducing garbage because they are running out of landfill space. So why why WHY!!!? I am going to send some letters to the company and to the city where I found these bags. I get a feeling that they were so concerned with the city’s dog poo problem that they suffered some tunnel vision to stamp out this immediate issue without thinking about the bigger picture.

If you live in France and see these bags, please contact the city’s mayor to alert him to more environmentally friendly alternatives. Also, please contact the company dispensing non-biodegradable bags. Their contact information is on the bag.

[related: Plastic Bags Banned in France]