Coquitlam residents are being urged to put their food scraps in their green cans to reduce the possibility of conflicts with bears.
Drake Stephens, the city's Bear Aware co-ordinator, says green cans are picked up first, reducing the number of hours smelly food waste sits on the curb awaiting the attention of a passing bear.
"If it sits in that [regular garbage] bin, it's getting hit by bears... and it's sitting on the street four hours longer than it should be," Stephens said.
Coquitlam is continuing to crack down on garbage violations in the wake of several bear sightings and situations where bears that had become habituated to garbage were killed.
Stephens said he has been meeting with people who've been violating the city's garbage bylaw by putting their garbage out early or leaving it out where it can be accessed by bears.
"The further away from bear areas, the more careless they are," Stephens said.
So far this year, five bears have been destroyed in Coquitlam and one in Anmore, and most of these bears were drawn to the area because of garbage.
Stephens said bears are opportunistic and will eat almost everything, and at this time of year they're storing away calories for hibernation and human food is an easy source.
If everyone used their green cans for food waste, and puts only non-food trash in their garbage bins, some problems would be solved, he said.
To use a green can in Coquitlam, residents can put a "Green Can" sticker on the outside of their yard trimmings bin or bear-resistant bin. Food scraps and soiled paper can then be placed in the bin along with yard trimmings. But plastic bags or compostable/biodegradable plastic bags are not accepted in this program. Only craft-type paper bags or paper Bag to Earth bags, which are leak- and odour-proof, are accepted at the compost facility. These products can be found at the following stores: Canadian Tire, Home Depot, Rona and London Drugs.
Green cans can be placed alongside regular garbage and the blue box with the sticker facing out between 5:30 and 7:30 a.m. on the designated garbage day.
Decals are available free of charge and can be picked up at the following locations: City Centre Aquatic Complex, City Hall, Chimo Pool, Coquitlam Animal Shelter, Pinetree Community Centre and Poirier Library.
Drake said the green can program was initially started to reduce the amount of trash being sent to the dump but it is also effective in reducing the number of garbage-habituated bears in the community.
"It's going to be a learning curve for everybody. If we don't do it properly we are going to see an increase in raccoons, skunks and bears."
dstrandberg@tricitynews.com
