What is the best way to keep raccoons out of a dumpster?
At work we have a simple, split lid, top load dumpster like this one:
And we have a pretty large population of raccoons that seem to be pretty inventive when it comes to getting inside of it and pulling trash and food out.
The waste management company we use wont allow us to modify the dumpster. They own it and more or less rent it to us.
We've tried a few ways of "tying" the lid shut, but the raccoons will reach a hand between the two lids and pull out what ever they can, they also tend to chew on what ever we use to tie them down with, so strapping the lid shut doesn't work very well and the straps don't last long.
I've heard we could use cougar urine as a deterrent, but it rains fairly often where we are and handling urine on a regular basis is a little unappealing.
This should go without saying, but I'm also not looking to kill or otherwise harm the animals.
So, I'm trying to find a good way to keep the animals out, while still allowing us easy access, without modifying the rented dumpster or harming the wildlife... Any thoughts?