[Mrs. Robinson]

Originally Posted by Carl in Tampa

In considering the problem of the growth of the coyote population in The Villages a question occurred to me. Note that this is only a question, not a suggestion that this is a solution.

I'm wondering how many plastic bags of garbage are being torn open by animals prior to pick up by the garbage trucks. If this is becoming a wide spread problem, perhaps it is related to the coyote problem.

There are three possible scenarios:

1. Coyotes are omnivorous. They may be tearing open the plastic garbage bags lying at the street awaiting pickup either for meat or for vegetable contents. The large quantity of food available from this source could eventually lead to a very large coyote population in The Villages.

2. Other smaller animals, such as rats, squirrels, raccoons, opossums, and others, may be getting into the garbage, which allows their numbers to grow, providing more prey for the growing coyote population in The Villages.

3. Both 1 and 2, above, are true.

It would be interesting if data could be gathered to determine if there is a widespread problem with garbage bags being torn open prior to pickup. If this is a problem, it may provide a clue to the increase in the local coyote population.

IF this were to be determined to be a factor in the rise of the coyote population, a possible solution would be to require all garbage to be in closed, hard plastic trash cans. This is the practice in Tampa, where these cans are designed to be picked up and dumped into a trash truck with an automated system which is a part of the truck. In Tampa, the cans are provided by the local government, and separate cans are provided for trash and for recyclable items.

Originally Posted by Henryk

Ordinarily, I do not put food waste into the trash. Most of it goes into the sink disposal. Ordinarily, I simmer bones for stock and then they are also soft enough to go in the disposal.

Carl -- you always give such good information on most topics and this is another one of them.
At personal level, I don't think ripped open plastic trash bags needs to be a widespread problem.
As long as there is some of this happening, and there is, it warrants having the trash cans you describe and show.
Regardless of the fact that so many people are against trash receptacles because they don't want to be bothered with them, it is the only solution that makes sense, particularly to solve the "critter" problem.

Waste Management provides the type of can you have shown. Unfortunately, we do not have Waste Management.
I believe the reason we don't have that type of trash can and recycling can is because the developer doesn't want to go to the expense of providing them.
No -- instead residents have to go to the expense of buying trash bags which only adds to the millions of bags that don't disintegrate in the landfills.

HenryK -- Good for you! You are one of the few who doesn't throw garbage in with your trash.
I do a similar thing that you do.
I save up Chicken bones in the freezer until I have enough and when I do I pressure cook them.
When they are soft, I put them in a blender to pulverize them and then add it to our dogs' food.
I also have a compost bin for vegetable and plant remains.

I wish more people cared about our environment, but alas -- they don't because it's usually too much of a bother.