Prince George city council might want to look to Alaska for inspiration when it comes to bear-resistant garbage bins.
The Municipality of Anchorage utilizes a cart system that requires a two-part action where people use their fingers to pinch the front before lifting the gravity-activated lid with their other hand.
In addition, they also ask residents to only set their carts curbside on the morning service runs occur and then return it to a secured indoor area.
Recycling and Information Manager, Kelli Toth told MyPGNow.com that for those who like to hunt and fish, they should filet or cut up the meat they want at a different location, instead of doing it at home.
“Particularly when the fish are running, not to bring your fish home, clean it, and then have your smelly fish carcasses and other obvious compost materials in your trash can.”
“The last thing we want to do is encourage the bears to hang out in our neighborhoods. We want them to move on, and so the less attractants that we have the better it is for everyone.”
Toth admitted while we will never be able to get rid of the bears, people can help dictate their movements.
“We are not going to get rid of the bears, they are here to stay. This is their home, this is their area and this is where they roam. It’s educating Anchorage residents on how they can minimize and kind of encourage the bears to move along or at least not give them a reason to stay.”
“The way our carts open is that when we have mechanized curbside service, trucks then use their forks to grab each cart and lift it upside down, and when it goes upside down that gravity mechanism releases and the bear cart opens. That is the only way it will – in theory, it does not open if it’s knocked over.”
Toth mentioned education and outreach are also key pillars in reducing bear-human conflicts in the Alaskan city.
“The biggest thing we want people to do is make sure they are not putting their trash out the night before. Bears are very smart and they know when trash day is. The less we can put that attractant out there the night before, the better off we are going to be.”
She added the carts also have an extra outer layer that helps minimize smells, keeping it a little more rigid.
Last year, the PG ended a pilot program of bear-resistant bins – of the 300 carts in the field, 22 had the special latch completely replaced, a failure rate of approximately eight percent.
The Northern Bear Awareness Society launched a petition last week calling on civic officials to re-implement them.
Since Friday, it has garnered over 700 signatures.
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