It's been almost three years since a grand experiment began in a dog park in Ithaca, N.Y., and the results are finally in.

Dog dung poses public health risks if left on the streets, hurts the environment when left near trails and takes centuries to decompose in plastic garbage bags that end up in landfills.

In the park's experiment, corn-based compostable bags were available in the dog park. Later bins full of bags were pick up by a local composting company.

In 18 months, the company turned about 12 tons of dog waste into two truckloads of compost.

(READ the story in the NY Times)