Some rural Virginia localities are shifting how they manage residents’ trash after problems with bears and with a more unpredictable species: people.
Kim Chiddo took over as Floyd County’s interim county administrator in July, and she was faced with an immediate conundrum. Residents dispose of their trash at 21 green box sites, which are home to 62 dumpsters. But there was a problem.
“I was receiving pictures constantly, literally of a person driving up to a green box site, Route 8, very busy, and threw their household trash bag in, and a bear popped out, during the day,” Chiddo says. “That’s a safety concern.”…