Picking 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. Picking up dog poop is the responsibility of the person walking the dog, whether on a street, in a park or in a dog park. Dog walkers should always carry dog poop bags with them.
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.
Drop bags in public litter bins or dog poop bins
There are no separate dog poop bins in the city area. Instead, you can drop the dog poop bag in any public outdoor litter bin. Public litter bins do not have ‘koirankakkaroskis’ (dog poop bin) stickers.
You can also drop the bag in a mixed waste bin marked with a ‘koirankakkaroskis’ sticker. 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.
You can add a ‘koirankakkaroskis’ sticker to your own bin. 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. In this case, contact customer service through our feedback service(external link, opens in a new window).
The koirankakkaroskis sticker campaign (in Finnish)(external link, opens in a new window) was launched in 2010.