Two local entrepreneurs are taking the term “stoop and scoop” to a whole new level this summer, with their innovative business called Nature Calls.
Tom Baczynski and John Galbraith provide a variety of services to pet owners, including pet sitting, visiting and walking services, as well as the unusual service of picking up dog poop and disposing of it in an environmentally safe way.
Yes, that’s right - they are professional “pooper scoopers”.
Now their original idea is being expanded to tackle one of Ontario’s biggest health problems - the removal of goose droppings from parks, golf courses or any other place these large birds gather.
To give an example of how large the goose poop problem has become, John provides statistics that show a single Canadian Goose deposits 2.2 pounds of waste per day. Multiply this time 50 or 100 geese and the magnitude of the problem is staggering.
Of course, here in Scugog, one only needs to take a walk along the lakefront in Palmer Park during the summer to witness first-hand the extent of goose dropping in the park and along the boardwalk, to realize this is a major problem.
And it’s not as if the township hasn’t tried to rid the parks of this problem. As far back as ten years, local officials have proposed and tried various methods. Some of these included the use of dogs or falcons, leaving an uncut strip of land along the waterfront, planting buffers of native plants, introducing rocks along the beach and culling the flocks.
John Galbraith and Tom Baczynski are seen here with the “Tow & Collect” machine which, when towed behind a utility vehicle, can be used to clean up goose droppings.
But now, John who lives on Scugog Island and Tom from Bowmanville, have come up with an innovative method of removing the unsightly excrement.
John explains saying, “I work in the environmental field and have witnessed the accumulation of goose droppings in the park and heard the public complaints for years.” And since they were already in the waste pick-up business, they began to search for a way to tackle the problem.
“We knew we couldn’t take care of this problem with a rake and bucket, so we began an extensive search for an alternative method, and we found it,” says Tom.
After searching for more than a month, they located a company in New Zealand who had developed a machine they called the “Tow & Collect” for cleaning up horse pastures. The machine, which is dragged behind a utility vehicle, works with spring loaded fingers and adjustable brushes that spin at a high speed. The fingers ‘flick’ deeply settled material in grass to the surface and the brushes sweep it into a hopper.
Intrigued by the process, Tom and John contacted the company, called Metalform, and explained the problem produced by Canada geese. Tom says that they didn’t even know what a Canada goose was, but after they shared some video they became excited at the prospect of a new use for their machine and agreed to modify their machine to better suit collection of goose droppings.
Metalform agreed to send a machine to Canada, so they could try it out as a summer project. The machine arrived in late May and for the past month they have worked with the New Zealand company making a number of minor modifications.
Since becoming fully operational, they have made presentations and demonstrations to more than a dozen prospective clients, including Goreski’s Marine and the Township of Scugog, to provide clean-up services throughout the summer months.
Early last month, they secured their first contract, a goose waste maintenance job with Goreski’s Marina. They were hopeful that Scugog Township will come on board following a demonstration prior to the Dragon Boat Festival in mid-June.
“This machine, in ideal conditions (dry), will rid a park of 100 per cent of the waste,” according to John. In wet weather it’s a little less effective. “We’re thinking outside the box and taking a different approach to tackle the Canada goose waste problem that has plagued not only Scugog, but North America,” John says.
Tom says, “our ultimate goal is to create a company that’s unique by providing prospective franchises with equipment that remedies environmental and health issues associated with animal waste.”
So if you see a bright red, yellow and black machine being dragged through Palmer Park one day this summer - just follow along behind them with no fear of stepping on a mound of greasy goose poop!
By J. Peter Hvidsten
Focus on Scugog
