Can wily waste management out-fox the urban fox?

Whether you think foxes are a welcome addition to the urban landscape, or a growing menace that needs urgent management, the debate, which has been rumbling for a while, has recently reignited in a spectacular way.

The headlines and accompanying images of a young baby, apparently injured by a fox that had entered a house, caused an outpouring of opinions and emotions. As the furore dies down, some interesting viewpoints and theories are emerging – one of which is the waste management aspect. Foxes, like other wild animals, are opportunistic, and will take food from wherever they can get it. Our towns and cities provide a rich source of waste food, of which hungry animals will take full advantage. But the questions to ask are, if we wasted less food – or disposed of it more efficiently and effectively – would we have the same problems?

Waste management is fast becoming an integral part of the facilities and buildings management sector, often partnering with cleaning to deliver integrated services. As budgets are squeezed even further over the coming months and years, the challenge for the industry will be to find innovative ways of achieving the required results, while keeping a close eye on costs. Inspiring businesses and consumers alike to recycle or dispose of their waste more wisely can be done through education and awareness-raising, but product development also has a part to play. I am looking forward to seeing how the industry continues to develop, offering us all more convenient and interesting ways to play our part in making our communities cleaner and tidier.

Our animal friends are shrewd and cunning survivors, so the rich pickings in terms of waste food offered by our urban streets are just too tempting. This consequently attracts not just foxes, but rats and gulls too, bringing wider hygiene and health implications that cannot be ignored. However, the waste disposal sector can play a crucial part in out-foxing the foxes, so the race to invent the scavenger-proof bin is on!

Published in Tomorrow’s Cleaning – March 2013   Can wily waste management out-fox the urban fox?