KINDLING Bear buffet. PHOTO: BARB AND RON KROLL
Kicking the Can
ALGONQUIN PARK GETS SMART ABOUT GARBAGE DISPOSAL
Raccoons and bears may love overflow- ing garbage bins, but for park officials, garbage collection is a malodorous and messy expense. Each summer, staff at Algonquin Pro-
vincial Park in Ontario struggle to keep up with the more than 600 tonnes of gar- bage left behind by campers. Starting this summer Algonquin will be
installing new space-age waste storage containers. Designed in Finland, these huge containers—up to 5,000 litres—will not have to be emptied as often, which will reduce the number of rounds made
by garbage trucks in Algonquin. Since the garbage in them will be sitting for longer they are buried with two-thirds of the ca- pacity underground to keep the garbage cool, reduce odours and frustrate bears. The new system reduces expensive
and polluting garbage-collection sorties and the containers are capable of elec-
tronically alerting staff when they need emptying. For now, the task of monitor- ing the containers will be left to a student employee, but if the containers are ever wired in to park headquarters, park staff will know about overflowing garbage containers almost as soon as the raccoons do.—Pat Kerr
Loving the Slow Lane
RESEARCH SHOWS RV OWNERS TAKING MORE TRIPS AND BUYING MORE RIGS The MRI survey also showed that sat-
Don’t let anyone tell you that owners of recreational vehicles don’t know how to have a good time. A recent survey of RV owners shows that they are bucking a trend that is seeing average Canadians enjoying less and less leisure time. The study by Market Research Incor-
porated (MRI) revealed that the 14 per cent of households with rolling homes or campers took an average of nearly seven leisure-oriented trips last year. Canadians without RVs averaged only four trips. “If you buy an RV you don’t let it sit in
your yard. You use it,” says Jacques Rou- selle, an RV-owner from north of Montreal. Rouselle and his wife Louisette own
a 34-foot, class-A motorhome. “We go wherever we want for weeks at a time,” says Rouselle. “It gives you total freedom because you can take your own things. If you want a cheese sandwich at midnight, you go to your kitchen and make one.” This summer the Rouselles plan to take their two grandsons to Maine.
FAMILY CAMPING 5
isfaction with the RV lifestyle is shared by some 97 per cent of owners, perhaps driving the record sales for RV dealers re- ported by Statistics Canada in June. Last
year sales increased by 29 per cent over 2005 to a record total of $2.9 billion. With more RV owners taking more
trips expect to see more happy homes on the highway.—I.M.
Full house. PHOTO: IAN MERRINGER
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