Bear-Resistant Organics Bins
Maple Ridge City Council voted in favour of subsidizing 400 bear-resistant organic bins to residents of Maple Ridge.
These are still available on a first-come, first-served basis through Ridge Meadows Recycling. Residents will be asked to pre-pay for the bins and either pick them up from the Recycling Depot or request delivery.
Retail value of these bins is $200. Bulk purchase price is $150. With the $50 subsidy, residents will be able to purchase the bins for $100.
These bins are a major criteria to achieving Bear Smart Community status due to their success in bear-interface areas in other communities. The goal of this program is to “address the root causes of bear/human conflicts, thereby reducing the risks to human safety and private property, as well as the number of bears that have to be destroyed each year.
“Every year hundreds, and in some years well over a thousand, bears are destroyed as a result of conflicts between people and bears…most of these problems begin when people allow bears to access non-natural food sources such as garbage.”
Because they can’t get into the secured, certified bear-resistant bins when properly used, bears are discouraged from seeking food sources in residential areas.
Learn more about the Wildsafe BC program, working to “keep wildlife wild & communities safe.”