In many areas of Roanoke County, bears use our garbage containers as picnic baskets on a regular basis. Roanoke County Solid Waste has been working with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to come up with a solution that may help our residents combat this problem and keep the bears safe as well from human interaction. Please view the video to learn how to make your container "bear resistant." These methods were tested on the resident bears at the Virginia Tech Black Bear Habitat and determined to be effective in keeping the bears out of the containers. Also, Roanoke County has been awarded a grant to purchase bear resistant containers for those residents that are interested in sharing the cost of the container. Please contact Solid Waste at 387-6225 if you are interested in purchasing a bear resistant container.