Residents of Lorne, on Victoria's scenic Great Ocean Road, have been locked in a battle of wits for years now.
They've been fighting skirmishes with a large flock of increasingly intelligent sulphur-crested cockatoos that love lifting the lids of the town's wheelie bins and spreading rubbish on the ground.
"What began as a simple idea became a complex and demanding project," Mr Walls, a retired caravan park broker, explains.
Made from recycled plastic at Horsham in Victoria's Wimmera region, the frames are screwed or pop-riveted to the wheelie bin lid to thwart entry.
"The theory is you can't lift what you're standing on … and in the five years we've had them out testing them there hasn't been a failure that I'm aware of," Mr Walls says.
The design has been so successful that Surf Coast Shire has spent $50,000 to buy and install 500 of the aprons on Lorne residents' bins for free.
7 Comments
No1@aussie.zone · 7 pts · 72d
"The theory is you can't lift what you're standing on "
I'm thinking, "What if they learn to grip the handles or edge, and take off?"
I would have made a great cocky....
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 6 pts · 72d
mfw the cockatoos learn to collaborate.
Big_Boss_77@fedinsfw.app · 4 pts · 72d
That title is a fuckin roller-coaster.
beeng@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 72d
Pull yourself up by your bootstraps
arbilp3@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 72d
Wouldn't a brick on top of the lid be enough?
Anyway, people should also be doing the obvious: don't waste food and don't buy so much junk. This has been known for decades. If leftovers were consumed and food placed in bins was composted instead everyone would win.
Tau@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 72d
The brick probably would be enough to stop it being opened (unless a particularly inquisitive cockatoo pushed it off) but the problem is that you have to remove the brick just before the garbage truck comes - if you don't then either the lifting mechanism flings the brick over the truck or you lose your brick into it.
arbilp3@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 72d
Just take the brick off on bin day. The cockies wouldn't have enough time to create a mess unless the trucks come around in the afternoon. Why am I arguing? 😆 They've found a better solution.