Garbage routinely strewn across front lawns by pesky birds and strong winds has prompted a trial of bin locks in south-west Sydney.
Campbelltown City Council is offering residents impacted by bin-raiding birds the use of a lock in a 12-month trial.
It wants to know if the devices are effective at "reducing waste spillage from bins caused by cockatoos and wind and whether there is sufficient demand for this service among residents going forward".
"We are providing bin lid latches to participating residents and ask them to provide regular feedback during the trial period," the council's City Planning and Environment director Jim Baldwin said.
The locks were available to residents in the suburbs of Ruse, Airds, St Helens Park, Kentlyn and Minto Heights, with residents only eligible if birds were creating litter problems.
Two different kinds of locks are being issued. One needs to be screwed into the lid and lip of the bin. The other is a plastic strap that goes around the lid's handle and hooks under the bin's rim.
Both locks keep the bin closed until they are inverted, such as when picked up to be emptied by a collection truck.
Local Maureen McCann said cockatoos had been raiding bins for years but the bigger issue was the bins were usually too full.
"If [the plastic bag] is sticking out of the bin, all they've got to do is pull the plastic," she said.
"Once they get into the plastic bag, they've got the lot."
Preventing bin raiders worldwide
The screw-down locks come from Secure A Lid, which sells the locks abroad to keep other "hungry animals" out of bins.
"I've had one guy … he had warthogs getting into his bins," founder Brett Sweetnam said.
Mr Sweetnam was inspired to make the locks after growing up in Barden Ridge, which backs onto bushland in Sydney's Sutherland Shire.
"We had cockatoos getting into our bin, honestly, for years," he said.
"I was actually doing a mechanical engineering degree, which I finished, and then at the end of that I had the skill and know-how to actually design and develop a product that could solve the problem."
Birds will outsmart locks
But bird expert Grainne Cleary thinks the persistent and "highly intelligent" animals will find their way around the locks.
Cockatoos have been witnessed outsmarting previous efforts to keep them out, such as lifting bin lids and bumping off bricks used to weigh down the tops.
"This is what we call an arms race. We're trying to outsmart a cockatoo and a cockatoo is trying to outsmart us," Dr Cleary told ABC Radio Sydney.
"They will investigate it, and they love nothing more than a challenge."
Dr Cleary said the birds' appetite for garbage came from a loss of natural habitat and food sources.
"Before, while they would have hung out more under trees, they are exploring more urban areas," she said.
"So this is why it's so important to retain our native vegetation in urban areas."
A tidier pick-up
Pete Miller from SafeWaste, which makes the strap-style lock, says there are other environmental benefits to the locks.
Rubbish was prevented from spilling onto the street while trucks were picking up and inverting the bins because the lids did not open until upside down over the truck hopper.
"Often the litter falls out of the bin on the way up to the collection process as the arm is going up," Mr Miller said.
He said the devices could also prevent water from contaminating recycling waste.
"When you've got paper recycling and the lid's open, then the paper gets wet and that clogs up your recycling plants," Mr Miller said.
"You'll find that any wet paper has to be diverted to either green waste, or often can even go to landfill."
