GARY DOWNIE SERIES

GARY DOWNIE SERIES

The process would see excrement collected from dog waste bins across areas like Blaenau Gwent, the first council to sign up, and then fed into a series of chambers that pasteurise the waste and use micro-organisms to break down the matter in a bio-digester. Mr Downie said the UK’s failure to make the most of organic matter like dog waste means we are playing catch-up in the use of bio-fuels. It can be used to provide renewable energy.”

“If we take away the ‘yuk’ factor, it’s still organic material.

“Someone said to me that the term ‘waste’ should never come after organic – anything organic we could potentially use as a resource,” said Mr Downie. Streetkleen says Wales spends more than £5m every year burying dog poo in landfills.īut, far from putting it in the ground, the Flintshire-based company plans to use anaerobic digestion to turn it into heat and renewable electricity. Dog faeces could soon be powering your kettle and keeping your TV on – if this energy pioneer has his way.įormer banker Gary Downie’s wife thought he was mad when he said he was going to plough £10,000 of their money into finding a use for dog mess.īut three years later Mr Downie and his company, Streetkleen, have devised a process to turn the scourge of pavements everywhere into a source of renewable energy.Īnd a Welsh council looks set to become the first in Britain to use the innovative green scheme.

Gary downie