While at the Strolling of the Heifers this weekend, just for whistles and grins, I picked up a copy of The Commons. I was quite amused by Joyce Marcel's account of her close encounters with the ursine kind [“We fought the bear, and the bear won,” June 1].
I have seen only two bears near my place, but I know they come by more frequently, because I see evidence of them in the blackberry patch. So far, however, they have never bothered my garbage.
I don't know if this will help, but for what it is worth, here are some tips to keep pests out of your trash:
First, keep a strict limit on food purchases that use non-recyclable, non-cleanable, non-biodegradable packaging. Shopping at the local farmers' market or food co-op, or growing your own will help, but one must be creative also. If you shop at regular “chain” grocery stores, this task is infinitely more difficult, but not impossible.
Second, if you eat out a lot, finish your meal at the restaurant, or take your own reusable containers, rather than bringing your leftovers home in the disposable “doggie bags” provided by the restaurant.
Third, separate food trash (smelly) from non-food trash (not smelly). The latter may be stored indefinitely, and as long as your garbage cans or dumpster are free of odors, the bears will never bother them.
If you do it right, you won't generate more than about a shoebox (or two) full of the smelly stuff in a week's time. Most of that (fruit and vegetable swill) may be safely composted, or merely thrown into the bushes or weeds just beyond the edge of your lawn. Mother nature will take care of it from there. If your neighbor's lawn abuts yours, you might need a different solution, like a compost bin.
Fourth, as much as possible, convert smelly trash to the non-smelly type. Rinse and wash out jars, cans, plastic, aluminum, or glossy cardboard food wrappers while doing the dishes. This way, they can be stored indoors for a while without smelling.
Meat scraps and bones may go into the woodstove any time you are keeping a fire. By the time they come out, they are of no interest to the bear. Stubborn things like oily sardine cans will not burn in the fire, but the food residue will, and then you can remove the can. Let it cool in a safe place, away from flammables, before throwing it into the recycling or trash.
In warm weather, when you're not keeping a fire in the woodstove, discard the meat scraps and bones in the same place as the vegetable scraps (though you might want to take them a little farther from the house than the edge of the lawn).
If the bear is going to get this stuff no matter what you do, I figure you might as well not make it easy for him. Why use your food waste as bait or incentive for the bear to strew all your other trash across the countryside? The alternative is to allow him to continue to invade your trash and cut himself while licking out the inside of a tin can.
After a week or two, non-recyclable plastic wrappers and the like will accumulate enough to fill a shoebox or two. Take this out just prior to the time the garbage is collected, and it should be gone before the bear catches wind of it.
If the bear follows the garbage truck down the road, it's not your problem, though by doing so, the bear may increase the odds of finding himself in the garbage collector's freezer.
If you eat out a lot and bring home the remains in a plastic or aluminum “doggie bag,” if you frequently order out and have it delivered to your home in non-biodegradable packaging, if you purchase large quantities of food in small, single-serving, sealed, non-biodegradable packages, then my ideas will be inconvenient at best.
But then, if that is how you eat, why are you living in bear habitat?