Local scoop
From the lakeshore to farm country
Macomb County runs from the Lake St. Clair shoreline to the farm country along its northern border. Wherever your yard lands on that map, your dog goes out every day, and the lawn keeps a running tally. Poopy Scoops clears it for you in 22 communities.
Pick a weekly, every-other-week or twice-a-week plan, or book a one-time cleanup. Price your yard online in about 30 seconds, then sign up and pay online too. Plans run month to month, and you can cancel anytime.
You get a text when we head over and a gate-check photo when we finish. Unless you add haul-away, the waste goes into your outdoor trash can, double-bagged. Between yards, we disinfect our tools and boots. Missed a spot? Tell us within 24 hours, and we'll come back free.
Every drain in the county ends at Lake St. Clair
Your yard is closer to Lake St. Clair than it looks. Macomb County Public Works says all 475 county drains eventually carry storm water to the lake. Most of the county also sits in the Clinton River watershed, which empties into the same lake. When dog waste stays on the grass, rain and melting snow push it toward those ditches and drains.
What rides along is the problem. The EPA calls pet waste one of the main sources of bacteria and nutrient pollution in urban waterways, where it can make people and pets sick and feed algae. The county Health Department tests the five public beaches for E. coli from April through September and can close a beach when levels top state limits. Michigan's cleanup plan for the Lake St. Clair Metropark and Memorial Park beaches lists pet waste among the possible sources, alongside wildlife, sewer overflows and failing septic systems.
And no, it isn't free fertilizer. The EPA counts that belief among the reasons people leave waste behind. The CDC adds that roundworm eggs from dog poop can survive in soil for months or even years, and it says to scoop your own backyard too, especially where kids play.
Scooping through a Michigan year
Your dog doesn't skip bathroom breaks for bad weather, and we don't skip visits for rain or cold. Detroit's 30-year normal is about 45 inches of snow a season, and January and February bring the most. When a storm buries the yard, we pick up everything sitting above the snow. When the thaw uncovers the rest, we catch up.
Melting snow is runoff too, so the sooner that backlog is bagged, the less of it heads for the storm drains. Took the winter off? Book a one-time spring cleanup and start the season on a clean lawn.
