Village wants waste disposal crocodiles
Friday, November 9, 2001
A fishing village in Iceland may import crocodiles as living waste disposal units.

The crocs would chomp their way through the waste products of the fishing industry in Husavik, north east Iceland.

The Mayor Reinhard Reynisson is thinking of importing the crocodiles and believes they'd be an added tourist attraction.

"People mostly laugh at the idea, but for us it's more than a joke," Mayor Reinhard Reynisson told the BBC. "We are actually looking into it seriously."

He was inspired after reading a magazine article which described a Colorado waste disposal scheme using crocodiles.

"They have hard winters, snow and frost and so on, but have access to geothermal water," Mr Reynisson said. "So, circumstances there are a bit similar to ours here in Husavik."

The warm ground water - that is used for domestic heating and to produce electricity in the town - would be a perfect environment for the crocodiles.

"It's more environmentally friendly to use animals in the food chain to eat [the waste] than to dispose of it in other ways," he said.

"They would have a lot to do and, as in Colorado, we expect that they would also attract tourists, just to see them."

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