The City and Borough of Juneau wants you to know the new garbage cans are not bear-resistant.
An announcement on the city’s website says the “48- and 96-gallon roll carts provided for trash service do not meet bear-resistant criteria…” and “must be kept in a bear-resistant structure” except on garbage pickup day.
The new cans were recently provided to residents by Arrow Refuse when it switched to an automated roll cart service. The new cans have a gravity-lock lid, so Arrow’s drivers don’t have to get out of the truck. Instead, a mechanical arm picks up the can and dumps it.
Arrow General Manager Matt Dull says the company only advertised the cans as meeting the city ordinance, not as bear-resistant.
“These only meet the curbside requirement of staying latched when they’re tipped over,” Dull says. “They are not bear-resistant. We’ve never claimed them to be, and they need to be kept in the garage or in some type of enclosure throughout the week.”
Dull says he’s not sure why people thought the containers were bear-resistant, but the company plans to include a warning next time it mails out monthly bills.
Arrow is the state regulated, private garbage hauling company for the Capital City.
Customers can choose to purchase their own bear-resistant cans from a local hardware store, but Dull says they’ll pay an extra $2.34 per month for the driver to unlatch it and manually dump the trash in the back of the truck.
City and Department of Fish and Game officials could not be reached for comment.
