A crap-shoot

DOGS, unlike people, are capable of pure love—at least according to Freud. As ever more Americans live alone, unconditional affection is in demand. Pet ownership has risen for decades. More than a third of homes have at least one dog, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. But the popularity of four-legged friends has an icky cost: dogs squeeze out more than twice the waste of the average person, or around 275 pounds a year. With over 83m pooches roaming the country, that is a lot of poop. Around 60% of the stuff gets scooped and trucked to landfills, where it releases methane, a greenhouse gas. The rest delivers surprises to pedestrians and can contaminate waterways, as carnivorous diets create pathogen-rich waste.