A VANCOUVER teenager has designed a biodegradable pooper-scooper out of
tissue paper and chewy sweets that can be flushed down the toilet. His
鈥淔lushable Dog Poo Bag鈥� won second place in a Canadian youth television
competition earlier this year.
James Robins-Early, aged 15, walks his border collie twice a day. Like most
Vancouverites, who abide by the law on collecting pet faeces, he used a plastic
bag. But he was concerned about the damage the plastic would do to the
environment.
So he designed a bag that could be tossed into the toilet and would dissolve
during the flush. He initially experimented with a bag stitched out of tissue
paper alone. 鈥淏ut the poo was too moist and too heavy,鈥� recalls Robins-Early. So
he strengthened the paper with a coating that he made by melting one of his
favourite sweets, known as a gummy bear.
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Robins-Early has since developed and improved his original design,
cross-stitching the bag for greater support and devising his own coating out of
cornstarch, gelatine and icing sugar to mimic the texture of melted gummy
bears.
Robins-Early, who has now become something of an activist, has been handing
out the environmentally friendly bags to others walking dogs in his local park.
鈥淧eople are very enthusiastic,鈥� he says.