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The Bear Education And Resource Group (The BEAR
Group) Hewitt NJ 07421 973-315-3219
High-density polyethylene
drums with screw-top lids come in 4 sizes. 20 gallon, 30 gallon, 65
gallon and 95 gallon drums are manufactured at Eagle Manufacturing Co,
2400 Charles Street, Wellsburg, West Virginia 26070. Telephone: 304-737-3171 Fax:
304-737-1752 The 30 gallon model “1600SL”
serves as an ideal bear-resistant household trash container when
hardware is purchased separately and attached to facilitate
opening/closing the lid. (See below.) These containers are useful not only for curbside trash, but also to securely store pet feed and birdseed. The Critter Can™ is especially useful in lake-communities where few homes have basements or garages for storage of attractants.
Pricing:
We advise searching for distributors of the “Eagle 1600SL” on the internet and negotiating the best deal possible when ordering in extremely large quantities.
As of Spring 2006, DAWG Inc.,
in Terryville, Connecticut publishes pricing as follows: DAWG, Inc.
http://www.worldsafetyproduct.com/home.php?cat=251
World Safety Products
US$31.22 per 30 gallon #1600SL
US$28.68 per 20 gallon #1650SL HARDWARE
REQUIRED TO PREPARE ONE BEAR-RESISTANT CAN:
3 Door Pulls (6 1/2” or 7”
zinc plated steel) (Two for use as handles on
top of the lid to make opening/closing the garbage can easy;
Use a “Sharpie” pen to mark
where drill holes are needed to attach the handles. Slightly bend the door pull
to be used at base of the can so that the handle is shaped to fit the
arc of the drum about 1” above very bottom of drum. Position the handle to be
used as the toe-hold at the base of the drum.
Drill the 8 holes needed
on lid and the 4 holes needed at base of drum. It is necessary to drill
about 6 additional holes (1/4”) at base of drum and 2-4 additional holes
on lid as a safety precaution. These drums are air-tight
and children must not be allowed to climb in or play with the drums. Attach each of the 3 door
pulls using the fasteners prescribed. The machine screws will be placed
from outside the drum/lid through the handle toward the interior of the
drum. Slip the wide fender washers
over the machine screws on the inside of the can/lid. Be sure to tighten
the lock nuts on the end of each machine screw. When large quantities of
bear-resistant garbage cans are being prepared, it is most efficient to
set up an assembly line of USING THE
BEAR-RESISTANT GARBAGE CAN Use a permanent marker to draw an arrow to the left and annotate the lid “OPEN” to indicate to the garbage collector that this drum has a screw-top lid.
Additionally, loosen the lid slightly on the day of garbage collection.
For safety, children must not be allowed to climb in or play with the
drums. Bears may drag your can off to a location where they can wedge it and work at it privately, trying to get the lid off. To avoid this, you should secure the can to a strong tree or post with 8-10’ of chain or dog tie-out cable; this length of chain or cable allows the can to roll freely, hindering the bear’s efforts. Periodically rinse out the container with bleach. Bears may attempt to open the can, but after several unsuccessful tries will give up and not come back. Reducing access to garbage will result in less bear traffic through your yard and neighborhood and a decrease in nuisance complaints. In addition, cutting off this unnatural food source can help reduce the bear population, since bears breed at an earlier age and have more cubs if they fatten-up on garbage. |
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Crittercan.org is a project of the The Bear Education And Resource Group Janet Piszar, Director PO Box 918 Hewitt, NJ 07421 Phone: (973) 315-3219 Can Coordinator: EMAIL |
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