The movement is growing in Ottawa, and across Canada, to get people to use anti-litter, environment-friendly, non-plastic bags for their shopping, and that's fine, that's nice, but what about dog poop, where's the dog poop-and-scoop lobby?

Many of the shops in Ottawa, and most if not all the supermarkets, still use the plastic bags, but are encouraging consumers to buy the resuable non-plastic bags they have for sale, or bring their own such bags from home, and it's catching on.

Some American communities -- San Fransisco the most notable -- have banned plastic bags outright, at least two Canadian towns -- Leaf Rapids, Man., and Huntington, Que. -- have followed suit, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Toronto are seriously musing over it.

I remember when paper bags were all that was used by retail outlets, and I wouldn't mind seeing nothing but paper bags come back again.

Except for one hugely serious consideration.

Dog poop.

Ever since dog poop-scooping came into vogue, the plastic bags used by the stores have become society's poop-scooping heroes. If you don't believe me, go to Bruce Pit, dog-rambling heaven. There are large bins there full of dog poop that's been scooped and what it's been scooped into are the plastic bags from the stores.

When you see dog lovers walking their dogs along the sidewalks or in the parks, what are they scooping the poop into?

You got it. In Ottawa, with its large dog population, these plastic bags on the environment-enemy list serve a huge and necessary environmental service. If not plastic bags for scooping the poop, what?

Paper bags? And where do you find shops using only paper bags these days?

The only one I can think of is the renowned chicken emporium, KFC.

What if it's raining?

But when it comes to keeping our streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and parks free from the unhealthy mess of dog poop, paper bags are not the answer anyway.

Paper bags are not as durable as plastic bags. Large amounts of poop, say from a dog suffering gluttony or a serious bowel disorder, could break through the bottom of a paper bag.

What if it's raining out? Paper bags get wet, soggy, they break. Not pleasant if they're carrying scooped dog poop.

Supermarkets using the plastic bags for groceries, they should have a talk with their check-out clerks. How many times have you seen the clerks use far too many bags for your groceries than needed? Such as putting one or two items into a single bag when they could put in six.

An organization that opposes the trend against plastic bags is the Canadian Plastics Industry Association, its vice-president Cathy Cirko recently saying that plastic bags are getting an unfair rap as litter villains. She said plastic bags represent only 1% of all Canadian landfill waste, that an Ottawa survey showed plastic bags are a mere tiny fraction of city litter, that nine out of 10 consumers use the bags again after shopping for such things as packing lunches, trash and -- DOG POOP SCOOPED.

Exactly, Cathy Cirko.

Short of a law requiring all public pooping dogs to wear diapers, there should not be a total ban on plastic bags. Environmental sanity, responsibility, and the dog-poop equation compels that plastic bags be permitted to live and thrive in the retail outlets of the nation.

It's true that, if I had a dog, I could buy one of those non-plastic, grocery-carrying bags from all the shops and supermarkets selling them, or buy a canvas tote bag from somewhere, and bring it with me to the stores.

But when it's poop-and-scoop time?

Sorry, no way I'm going to be hiking along with my eco-friendly canvas tote bag and scoop my dog's poop into it, take it home, empty it, wash it, and use it to scoop again.

And if you don't like that, well, tough (censored).