Remember to pick up after your dog!
According to the Public Order Act, the owner of a dog or the person in whose possession the dog is must ensure that the dog’s faeces are not left on the ground in a maintained section of a built-up area. Dog owners are responsible for picking up after their dogs, and dog poop bags are an essential item for all dog owners.
Clean pedestrian paths are in everyone’s interest. It is an unpleasant surprise to notice at home that you or your dog have stepped in poop. This is not only a matter of cleanliness, because certain diseases, parasites, bacteria and viruses can spread through faeces. Most of these spread from one dog to another but some, such as Ascaris lumbricoides and certain Giardia species, may also infect humans.
Keep an eye out for bin stickers
The city does not have separate bins for dog poop. You can put poop bags in a normal litter bin. You can also drop the bag in a mixed waste bin marked with a sticker that says ‘koirankakkaroskis’ (dog poop bin).
The sticker indicates that the owner of the bin has allowed dog walkers who are passing by to drop their dog poop bag in the bin. Public bins do not have these stickers.
Housing companies can attach a sticker to one of their communal waste bins; you can bring this matter up at your housing company meeting.
You can pick up a sticker from the Public Works Department’s customer service desk in Otaniemi, Tekniikantie 15 (2nd floor). You can also ask our customer service staff to send a sticker to you by post. You can contact customer service through our feedback service(external link, opens in a new window).
The Koirankakkaroskis sticker campaign(external link, opens in a new window) (in Finnish) has been active since 2010.
