Pet Waste Campaign

Pick It Up Every Time, Everywhere

Join us for a 4-week social media campaign with the goal of encouraging dog owners to scoop the poop! When we all take responsibility to clean up after our pets, we make our neighborhoods, parks, and preserves clean and healthy places to be. Picking up dog poop every time, everywhere also protects our rivers and streams from nutrients and bacteria in pet waste that stormwater runoff brings into nearby waterways.

Join Us and Make a Difference in Your Community

Here's How:

Select a day once a week for 4 weeks to schedule your Pet Waste Campaign social media posts.

Select 4 consecutive weeks to launch your own campaign. The Conservation Foundation, Lower DuPage River Watershed Coaltion, and Lower Des Plaines Watershed Group posted each Friday from November 27th to December 18th (11/27, 12/4, 12/11, and 12/18).

We're coordinating another pet waste social media campaign this summer and we'll share those dates soon. We'd love to have your organization join in so we can have a strong, consistent message across our online community!

Craft your posts.

Choose from our array of outreach materials, including digital posters, graphics, photos, and blog posts. Create a caption to go with the content, or select one of the suggested messages below.

Post on social media.

Set a reminder to post on the days you've chosen or schedule your posts ahead of time using Facebook's built in "Publishing Tools" or with another social media scheduling application.

Learn more about scheduling posts on Facebook here.

Pet Waste Campaign Materials

Create social media posts for the campaign by using the content below!

Digital Posters

Social Media Graphics

Add some humor to the campaign by posting a poop emoji photo along with a message encouraging pet owners to pick up the poop every time, everywhere!

Blog Posts

Link to these blog posts for more information about how pet waste impacts people and the environment.

Scoop the Poop to Keep Nature Healthy and Beautiful

Many people escape to trails in local forest preserves to enjoy nearby nature or exercise outdoors. What they don’t come for is the dog poop scattered along the trails.

To Pick-up or Let Lie – The Age-Old Question Around Dog Poop

Gross factor aside, not picking up dog poop is bad for the environment, it contaminates water and is harmful to people and other animals.

Messages to Use in Social Media Posts

When dog poop is left to decompose in the grass, the next rainfall can wash the nutrients and bacteria in the poop into local waterways and contribute to water quality degradation. Scoop the poop to protect local rivers and streams!

Did you know that a single gram of dog poop can contain 23 million bacteria? Rain washes bacteria and nutrients in pet waste left on the ground into nearby rivers and streams. None of that bacteria belongs in our water! Scoop the poop to protect local waterways!

Dog owner or not, we all are responsible as trail users and community members to keep local natural places healthy and enjoyable for all. Littering our preserves with dog poop (or anything else!) won’t do if we want to maintain our parks and preserves in the best condition.

Pick up the poop every time, everywhere! When walking your dog around your neighborhood, park, or preserve, come prepared with bags and always throw the waste into a garbage bin.

Pet waste spoils other’s enjoyment of the outdoors, degrades the water quality of local streams, and can be a public health hazard. That’s why it’s important we pick up the poop every time, everywhere!

4-Week Social Media Campaign Plan

We’ve put together a 4-week social media plan for the campaign. Feel free to follow this plan exactly or take inspiration from it!

Week 1

Caption:

To learn more about the impact of pet waste, read more here: https://www.lowerdesplaineswatershed.org/scoop-the-poop-to-keep-nature-healthy-and-beautiful/

Week 2

Caption:

We all know that being a good neighbor means picking up after your pup. But did you know that picking up dog poop every time, everywhere also protects clean water in nearby rivers and streams? That’s because when pet waste is left to decompose of the ground, the next rainfall washes the bacteria and nutrients in dog poop into nearby waterways. Yuck!

So next time, when nature calls…pick it up!

Week 3

Caption:

Week 4

Caption:

Pick up the poop every time, everywhere! When walking your dog around the neighborhood, park, or preserve, come prepared with bags and always throw the waste into a garbage bin.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Hammer at jhammer@theconservationfoundation.org