One person’s trash is a woodland creature’s treasure. Defending your food waste from opportunistic critters can feel like serious business in the uplands. And you can make a lot of mistakes until you get it right. So I’ll share some thoughts here on how we mitigate the challenges at our country house.
Any number of animals will find your garbage appealing and yet clearly, you don’t to protect it by piling a week’s worth of trash inside your home. So what are your options? If you have a garage? Setting larger rolling bins inside will help. However, you still have to wheel garbage outside for weekly trash collection and on those nights? Good luck. After a year fighting nature, we ultimately built a shed onto the side of our house that is unlocked and where we can keep trash relatively safe from animals and out-of-sight. It is attractive, and completely in keeping with the house. Thankfully our local, private trash collectors are willing to walk to the space (which we keep lighted and near the front of the house) because they understand the struggle is real.
These sheds are a godsend, but not always completely critter-proof. We once had a bear attempt to tear through the wood door. But you can make it a challenge at least! First, be certain it has a roof. And leave no gaps at the base of the structure. Raccoons and opossum are especially crafty and will dig into the ground to tunnel under the walls and access the space. We used gravel as our foundation–in hindsight, not the best choice for this reason. You may consider pouring (and sloping) concrete as a deterrent to burrowing creatures as well as for ease of cleaning the space. It’s much easier to hose and deodorize a concrete floor than to shovel out and replace gravel. Our space is vented at the top to allow for good airflow, and that is something I highly recommend if you build such a space. And doors (we have two to allow easy access for cleaning) must have a locking mechanism that is bear resistent. So whatever design you choose, stay away from levered handles. They will crack that nut with no problem at all.
We use only metal cans after learning most creatures who may find a way into the space can handily chew through plastic. Amazon sells these galvanized steel cans (with lids) from Plexon which come in a 20 gal size. My aunt uses bungie cords to secure the lids of her cans, but blessedly we’ve not had to employ this tactic. She also keeps a jug or ammonia handy and splashes a bit inside, ontop of the bags before securing the lid. This proved quite effective for her when a local bear became fond of her trash and returned regularly for a nightly nosh. Amonia is generally hated by most creatures, so will help manage marauding opossum and raccoons as well. However, it is also hated by me, so I’ve not used this technique either. But if you don’t have an enclosed space to keep trash safe until pick-up time, I’d definitely recommend giving this a try.
We have struggles with field mice inside of our house as well. It’s honestly an on-going challenge and we’ve found our cat James Bond to be our most effective and charming solution to date. We are also switching to Glad Eucalyptus and Peppermint Garbage bags in the hope that mice will find the scent off-putting. They apparently steer clear of smell of anything menthol. But removing the garbage nightly, also is a must. As with everything, you want to eliminate as much opportunity as possible and a full can of wet garbage is a clear invitation to the dance.
Finally, you may find them cute. You may not even mind cleaning up after them when after they’ve strewn trash across your yard. But there are other considerations to take into account. Namely, this is not their regular food source and is not only unhealthy for them but can promote the spread of disease amongst animals who are unnaturally visiting a shared food sight. And finally, your problem bear (or raccoon, etc) will become everyone’s problem animal. Once they learn how easy it is to feast on your garbage, they’ll likely move on to the next property down the lane….and so on. So be a good neighbor and mind your trash.
