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Unequivocally yes: the detritus from your beloved Fido or Kitty can also be used as a cleaner, greener alternative to using fossil fuels.

Animal waste, along with other forms of organic waste, consume a great deal of space on the planet's already overflowing landfill sites. In California, for instance, organic waste comprises over 20 million tonnes of our landfill sites. In Europe, this organic matter has been used and converted into electric power to light and heat our cities, although in America things have been a little slower to take off.

Recently, San Francisco have decided to become pioneers in this field by collecting poop from animals in biodegradable bags and, using simple bacteria, to convert this waste into methane, a process that takes approximately two weeks. Methane can then be used in all manner of devices, and can power machinery or be used as a source of heat.

While this sounds grotesque to the more squeamish among us, this practice has become regular on dairy farms, whose cows produce an enormous amount of methane which can then be used to power tractors and farm machinery, eventually saving farmers thousands of dollars.

As methane is becoming a more popular alternative to fossil fuels, it is likely that this method will be used with increasing efficiency. And, as soon as the bugs are ironed out, San Francisco will become the first city to utilize this method of methane extraction from pet feces, taking Fido or Rover's byproducts off the landfill and making use out of it.

Learn more about this author, Paul Stanway.
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