Coast Care, the City Council's coastal enhancement programme, has ordered three Dog Duty Stations for a trial at Sumner, New Brighton and Waimairi beaches. This has been in response to community concern about dog fouling.

The Dutch invention gives out paper bags that have cardboard wings which are used to scoop up a dog’s deposit. After that, there is a bin in which to dump the parcel.

Once in place at the beaches, customer satisfaction surveys and visual monitoring will be carried out to assess their performance and how they cope with things like vandalism. The duty station idea has had a lot of support from the Council’s Parks, Gardens and Waterways Committee. First sold in Holland in 1987, the bins are now being used in eight European countries and are being tested in the United States and Italy.