NYC Council passes SCOOP Act to tackle dog waste complaints across the city

Dog owners across greater Riverdale could soon find free waste bags attached to public trash cans, new warning signs at park entrances and stepped-up enforcement efforts aimed at curbing dog waste.

The Safe and Clean Outdoor Ownership Practices, or SCOOP, Act, was passed by the New York City Council on Aug. 13. The four-bill legislation targets dog waste left behind on sidewalks and in parks through a combination of cleanup requirements, public education campaigns and expanded resources for owners.

The package comes after a particularly messy year across the city, with a nearly 36 percent spike in dog waste complaints from the same period in 2025, according to the city, following consecutive winter snowstorms. More than 750 dog waste complaints were filed with 311 Bronx-wide this year, including roughly 40 reports in the 10463 and 10471 ZIP codes.

For Spuyten Duyvil resident Mark Wishnia, the problem is most noticeable along neighborhood sidewalks, including Netherland Avenue, West 235th Street and Johnson Avenue, though Wishnia noted existing dispensers are not always useful because they are frequently empty.

Under the SCOOP Act, the New York City Department of Sanitation will install dog waste bag dispensers on at least 1,200 city trash bins. However, in a May city council testimony, the agency, which is already tasked with replenishing dispensers, said it does not have the resources to regularly do so.

Efforts to ramp up enforcement would also fall to the sanitation department, though a spokesperson for the department told The Press that issuing violations comes with its own set of challenges. Officers must witness someone walk away from their dog’s waste to issue that person a summons, making violations difficult to enforce, they said.

The department pointed to a three-day stakeout in Mott Haven in 2024 that produced one summons, while weeklong patrols in Washington Heights, Harlem, Morningside Heights and Flatbush the following year produced none.

Just two summonses for failing to remove canine waste were issued citywide in 2025 and one has been issued so far this year, according to the sanitation department.

Property owners, meanwhile, are already responsible for keeping their sidewalks and the first 18 inches of roadway clean, including removing dog waste left by someone else’s pet. Under the new legislation, when a block receives at least three complaints within seven days, the sanitation department would have to either remove the waste or inform property owners of their responsibility to clean it and issue violations to those who fail to do so.

That approach has drawn concern from some residents who question why property owners should bear the consequences of another person’s failure to clean up.

Riverdale resident Stephenie Lauren said dog waste became particularly difficult to avoid while pushing her son’s stroller through the neighborhood after this winter’s snowstorms. Still, she had hoped the package would focus more directly on enforcement for dog owners.

Lauren suggested the city explore more creative ways to deter people from leaving waste behind rather than relying on property owners to clean up after them. Even the presence of enforcement officers in areas with frequent complaints, she said, could make some owners think twice.

Cailey Polaris, a Riverdale dog owner, similarly said responsibility should remain with the person who owns the animal.

“I don’t think it’s fair to the property owners,” Polaris said. “They can’t keep track all the time. That’s not their responsibility.”

The SCOOP package also looks beyond simply getting waste off the sidewalk, assigning several initiatives to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

Under one bill, the agency will establish a pilot program by March 15, 2027, to collect dog feces at selected dog runs for composting. The department would install designated bins, provide compostable bags and work with volunteer-led dog run groups experienced in managing the spaces.

The department told The Press it is reviewing how best to implement the program.

Composting dog waste, however, will require more than just tossing it into an existing compost pile.

Van Cortlandt Park, for example, already has a composting operation at the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance’s Learning Garden. Christina Taylor, the alliance’s deputy director, said garden scraps and other plant material are composted there and eventually returned to the garden.

“Composting dog waste is a completely different process that we are absolutely not equipped to do,” Taylor said.

Although all dog waste is compostable, doing so safely requires more infrastructure than an ordinary community compost site, said Jodie Colón, previously the compost project manager for the New York Botanical Garden’s NYC Compost Project.

“It’s not as simple as, oh, you already have a compost pile, just put dog waste in it,” Colón said. “Once you start adding dog waste into it, that brings a whole other level of possible pathogens — a compost pile is the ideal breeding ground for them.”

Because dog waste can contain harmful bacteria and parasites, composting it requires higher-temperature processing and additional safeguards, Colón said. Both the processing site and the finished compost require precautions to limit human exposure, with the end product restricted from uses such as food gardens and other areas where people frequently come into contact with the soil.

Waste bags themselves present another complication. Colón said compostable bags generally require industrial processing conditions to break down, raising questions about where the collected waste would go and how it would be processed.

Taylor raised similar concerns at Van Cortlandt Park, where the existing compost operation doubles as an educational garden used by children. The park’s system does not reach the temperatures needed to process dog waste, she said, nor could compost containing that waste simply be returned to vegetable beds.

For residents, however, the legislation ultimately works to address a problem that begins with individual behavior.

“It’s gross, nobody wants to step in it, and it’s just inconsiderate,” Wishnia said. “I think part of being a good neighbor is keeping the sidewalks and everything clear, and that includes throwing out garbage and also picking up dog poop.”

Despite its passage by the City Council, the package has not yet become law. It still needs to be signed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The mayor’s office did not respond for comment by press time.