The low point of any week is usually at 6 AM on Monday. I can’t think of a worse way to start a week than with trash day. But the positive side is that the rest of week only gets better.
Trash day in Juneau has a culture uniquely Alaskan. The rules and regulations of trash have evolved over decades to address the peculiar challenges of trash management. In Missouri, it was the raccoons and dogs. But ‘coons and dogs are nothing compared to a 300 pound black bear dispensing of 15 pounds of your trash over 30 feet of the street. As a result of the bear problem, there are rules that require that you have certain types of trash cans, with tops which can be secured (and in my case braced with bungee-cords). Trash can only be placed out onto the curb no earlier than 4 AM of trash day (Yeah, and who is the idiot who drags the garbage can to the curb in the middle of night?) . There is a fine of $50 if you fail to comply.
But the rules are only the beginning. There is a real science to trash management. First, freeze the food scraps. I learned this trick in Missouri with the raccoons. But Missouri’s warm weather usually made it difficult to get away with that trick. The ‘coons would sniff it out before sunrise. But since I drag the cans out early in the morning in Juneau, and the weather is cool, the ol’ trash can smells like nothing more than heavy grade plastic.
If you think the bungee cord is really for the bears, forget it. At a very early age, a bear cub learns the basic physics of pouncing on a rubbery trash can to see the lid and bungee cord explode off the top of a trash can! But the odds of a bear coming along are quite slim if you have a “clean” trash can (aka frozen food). The problem with trash can lids is usually with the ravens. I heard rumors about how smart these birds are, but I had to see it for myself to believe it. One day I saw four ravens taking turns bouncing a rubber garbage can lid off. Those birds can devastate a neighborhood in a matter of hours, dispensing assorted plastics, food scraps and (best of all) soiled diapers up and down a street.
The science goes further. The lid and the can need to be labeled with your name and address. We have these things called “Taku winds.” In Missouri, we had windy days but they are wind “gusts.” A Taku wind is more like a hurricane wind, a steady 25-50 mph wind that goes on for hours. Unless you are watchful, your trash can likely ends up down the street somewhere, or 40 miles away. Once Sean carried our trash can home from the bus stop.
Which means that if you are lucky, the horrible experience of getting the trash out by 6:15 has its advantages. The trash truck comes around between 6:15 and 7:15 most of the time. That means I am home when it comes. I sit in the living room, reading a good book (or doing Soduku puzzles) and drinking coffee. When I hear the signature sound of a diesel engine and the “beep-beep” of the backup signal, I know the truck has arrived. I slip on my coat and shoes and run outside and retrieve the can as soon as it is empty. In that way, the can is never lost. Even on good days, however, it is wise to tuck the can next to the garage door before leaving the house in the event the winds kick up again.
The “freeze the food” recommendation is not just an idle thought around here. Take the “coastie” down the street (a “coastie” is a guy in the Coast Guard). He loved to fish and one day stowed all the entrails in a garbage can behind a locked door of his shed. With a stink like that, it attracted a bear. This full-size adult succeeded in ripping off the door (!) and seizing the spoils! Mm! Mm! Mm! $1500 dollars in damage! One of the forestry agents was luckier. A brown bear came down the mountain last spring and figured out how to open the garage door!! He pushed up the door and dragged out the can, fortunately leaving the place undamaged.
