During a walk with my sister, I proudly pooped on the sidewalk. My human owner bagged it and looked for a trash can. He discovered the trash can (see photo) with nine bags of poop on top. Being a good citizen, he tried to place all nine bags plus mine in the trash can but discovered that the bear-proof can is also human-proof. Turns out the latch was broken. Are the green bags a silent protest against broken latches or just humans being lazy? Thanks for your help, Sadie and Nola in Skyridge
After last week’s whiteout, everyone is eager to see some green.
But not that kind of green.
Action Line is dumbfounded and dumbstruck by dumping dummkopfs.
Why would anyone go to the trouble of carefully picking up dog poop with a bag, tying a formidable knot at the bag opening and then placing said bag atop a trash can that won’t open?
It’s a disrespectable receptacle spectacle. Is this correctable?
Action Line thought about calling the city, but then pooh-poohed the notion.
The city has been kind of busy. Three feet of snow and all that.
After all, isn’t it a better use of resources to deal with The Big Dump rather than 10 smaller bagged ones?
Instead, we called our good friend Bryan Peterson, the Papa Bear and executive director of BearSmart Durango.
“Hi Bryan. It’s Action Line. I need to blow the lid off a story about how bear-proof trash cans are stuck shut. What have you heard?”
Plenty, it turns out.
Bryan said the new cans are self-latching. You turn a handle on the front, and it unlocks the lid. When the lid closes, the cans relock automatically.
They work like a charm, until they don’t.
And that’s what happened with several cans, he said.
“We’ve seen some problems with latch being blocked by debris,” Bryan said. “The manufacturer sent some new mechanisms to fix the problem.”
If your bear-proof can has become people-proof, waste no time in calling the city’s trash-collection office at 375-5004.
The folks there have a can-do attitude.
In the meantime, Bryan wanted to point out that no matter how automatic or self-latching our containers are, Durangoans are not smarter than the average bear.
We have significant “operator error,” he said, citing the appalling results from a recent Fort Lewis College environmental audit.
Students researchers last fall ventured out on the nights before trash pickup and found that week after week, about 60 percent of residents in the old part of town failed to lock their trash cans.
Even at homes with automatic-locking trash containers, about half were not closed properly.
C’mon, people. We can do better.
As for the bags put atop a trash can, knock it off!
Um, that’s not what Action Line meant.
How about this: Let’s stop putting green party hats on the frozen trash cans. Be a party pooper.
At least dog owners aren’t leaving them along the trial.
Talk about the New Green Deal!
Email questions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 80301. You can request anonymity if you are enduring the dog days of winter.
