Thoughts, strangers digging through your trash..

[LG Gone Wild]

We live in plain old suburbs. It's trash day. A man came around digging through all our trash cans. I shooed him away.

 

I dunno. It's just trash but I found it unnerving to have a strange man digging through our garbage. He was driving a old truck filled with what looked like other people's refuse (old bikes, lawn mowers, stuff like that).

 

It's true, trash is stuff I don't want so perhaps no harm no foul. Then I think about the parable of the camel and the tent. Crime is on the rise.

[Snickerdoodle]

In the metropolis that I live, this is par for the course.

[Tap]

We live on the border of a state that has a redemption value on containers of carbonated beverages. In-case you haven't ever ran across this....when you buy the item, you pay 5-10 cents for deposit, then when you are done with the item you return the empty to any store and get the money back. Since we don't pay deposit in Washington, but they do in Oregon, people will go through curbside recycling bins in Washington, dig out the containers that are eligible for return in Oregon and return them there. While it isn't technically stealing from the bins, since being on the curb makes them community property, it is stealing from the state of Oregon if the item was purchased in Washington (no deposit was collected).

 

:glare:

 

I have shooed people away before, now we just put our items out in the morning instead of at night.

[aggieamy]

He sounds like he's probably collecting metal to sell but I'd have been worried about identity theft. Who knows what can be found in our trash that someone could use to start a credit card in our name?!?

[LG Gone Wild]

We live on the border of a state that has a redemption value on containers of carbonated beverages. In-case you haven't ever ran across this....when you buy the item, you pay 5-10 cents for deposit, then when you are done with the item you return the empty to any store and get the money back. Since we don't pay deposit in Washington, but they do in Oregon, people will go through curbside recycling bins in Washington, dig out the containers that are eligible for return in Oregon and return them there. While it isn't technically stealing from the bins, since being on the curb makes them community property, it is stealing from the state of Oregon if the item was purchased in Washington (no deposit was collected).

 

:glare:

 

I have shooed people away before, now we just put our items out in the morning instead of at night.

 

We have that redemption value thing too. I am sure that is what he was looking for.

 

What I am wondering is if I did harm. Man is trying to eek out an existence and it's stuff I clearly didn't want.

 

I dunno, I don't like strangers. You better be in a kid with a box of cookies and cute younger sibling if you want to approach my door or driveway.

[AuntieM]

Ooooo, have you seen that movie with Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd? Along Came a Spider, I think it was.

 

Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much if he's just looking for recyclables, but I would be extremely careful of how I disposed of personal paperwork and even receipts that might reveal a pattern of personal habits. Thinking shred and/or burn in the backyard fire pit.

[Dad 4 Boys]

He was most likely looking for scrap or things to recycle/resell. However, in this day and age if you're putting any personal information in your trash, you're taking a big identity theft risk.

 

We shred anything with any personal information on it.

[Tess in the Burbs]

we had a man recently do that to our trash. We went out asking what he was looking for. He said metal. Dh went inside and came out with all sorts of decade old computer parts for the guy. he was thrilled.

 

I would worry about identity theft too but we shred anything important so it's a rare worry.

[Daisy]

This is common, but illegal in my city.

 

I shred EVERYTHING so I don't worry so much about identity theft. I try to leave a small bag of recyclables by my trash bin. It seems to cut down on them diving into my trash.

[radiobrain]

If I have anything that a trash picker would like, but I don't want to take to the recycle place myself, I put it out early in a separate pile. Then they don't bother checking.

 

Anything metal, or electronic or mechanical.

 

Sometimes, I might have something i am not sure if the garbage men will take, I put it out early, and usually it is gone within the hour. In our city, if you have certain items, you need to call and schedule its pick-up. I now set it out, and if a trash picker doesn't get it, I bring it back and then schedule the pick up.

 

Why do I think so much about garbage? :confused: :D

Edited September 7, 2010 by radiobrain
inappropriate apostrophe

[Chris in VA]

We have a lot of folks here who leave items out for the trash but also list on CL--not uncommon to see sofas, shelving, books, clothes, etc. in the "trash." I don't have a problem with it. I think it's wise to shred documents (we don't, but that's because my driveway is 550ft long, and the garbage trucks come down it, so no one comes looking thru my stuff).

[Abigail4476]

I agree with being careful about your personal information, but otherwise, if it's trash, I think people should be allowed to have it. If someone else can benefit from the stuff you throw away, let them. :)

[fhjmom]

There is a regular trash-picker in our neighborhood (actually right across the street). If we ever set anything out that might be of some use/recyclable, we jokingly take bets on how long it will take to disappear. The last was a broken 10 yr. old microwave, we went to dinner and came back to find it gone.

[mom2denj]

It doesn't bother me at all! We have one guy who takes trash furniture and fixes it, then he gives it to single moms. You never know why they need it. I would never shoo anyone away if they were not hurting anything.

[Gooblink]

 

The Ultimate Cheapskate calls trash day his favorite shopping day. :)

[Guest janainaz]

Well, I'm not sure I'd be glad to have some guy digging in my trash in front of my house. If there is something left on the curb on bulk trash day and they can pick it up and go, that's fine. But I would not like some stranger digging through my actual garbage - that would creep me out a bit.

[kalanamak]

He was driving a old truck filled with what looked like other people's refuse (old bikes, lawn mowers, stuff like that).

 

 

If he had a truck and was not making a mess, I wouldn't have minded it. If it is a solo young person who looks homeless, I've be much more wary. I used to get those in NYC, and they often left trash everywhere.

 

We used to get neat "can pickers" there. They came in family groups. I was always polite, but the neighbors (who didn't talk to me because I wasn't Italian-American) would come out and be very nasty, if they saw them.

[JillZ]

It doesn't bother me at all! We have one guy who takes trash furniture and fixes it, then he gives it to single moms. You never know why they need it. I would never shoo anyone away if they were not hurting anything.

 

:iagree: It always reminds me of the gleaning guidelines in Deuteronomy:

 

Deuteronomy 24:19-22

19 "When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

 

20 When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.

 

21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.

 

22 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing. NKJV

 

 

It's not exactly the same thing, but this is what I always think of.

[LibraryLover]

It's very common in my area to put items on the the crub with a "Free" sign. We have people constantly scouting. I depend on these folks when I am decluttering. :) Sometimes I put redeemable bottles out, hoping someone will take them off my hands. (Shhh....do not tell my dh).

[Dobela]

If I have anything that a trash picker would like, but I don't want to take to the recycle place myself, I put it out early in a separate pile. Then they don't bother checking.

 

Anything metal, or electronic or mechanical.

 

We do the same. When the trash was picked up in the aftrernoon we didn't put anything out before noon. Now they come at 6 am so we put it out just before bed, around midnight. There is a man with obvious disabilities and he makes his spending money from cans so I always sit them out by themselves if we have any. And anything else we really want gone we might sit out a day or 2 early by an empty trash can to show it is trash. Usually those items are gone before trash day LOL.

[Oops, duplicate account :/]

We went dumpster diving growing up. My Grandma, Aunts and Cousins would make a day of it collecting things for the family or to have our own yard sale with. No one was well off but all the adults all worked and my grandma actually owned several rentals, but she enjoyed being thrifty and industrious. Sometimes things were found for us kids. We would be so excited about our "treasures". A friend of mine takes her family dumpster diving at stores. They find food that is still perfectly edible and good. They are a respectable, honest family. I like the scripture someone posted on this thread. The ppl i know in my life who have "gleaned" I view as thrifty and humble and kind.

Edited September 8, 2010 by mommyjen

[dirty ethel rackham]

I guess I don't really care if someone goes through our trash. We shred anything that could be a problem as far as identity theft is concerned so if someone wants to keep our trash out of a landfill, I'm all for it.

[Dobela]

We shred any personal documents, then we take them out to my parents property and burn them :)

[NanceXToo]

That's common where I live. Some guy always comes by in a truck filled up with other peoples' trash/junk and collects what he wants on trash night. I think he resells it at like a thrift store or consignment shop or some such.

 

Hey, if he's ambitious enough to make his living that way more power to him, I say!

[DesertDweller]

We have loose trash pick-up once a month, and you can place just about anything at the curb for the city to pick-up. It's actually a good time to get rid of things that may not necessarily need to be thrown away. If you want to just give it away, you can place it out there and it will be gone. People often drive through the neighborhoods looking for scrap metal and various other things to either keep, sell, or recycle.

 

While I'm okay with them going through the loose trash that's laying out openly, I'm not okay with someone going through our trash cans, most of which is in tied bags. It may even be illegal. I'm not sure. But, I wouldn't be happy if it was happening. Trash or not, it's in a container for a reason. I may be in the minority, but I don't like the idea of someone digging through it.

[twoxcell]

Totally off topic, but not all states have can deposits? I did not realize that. I have always lived in Oregon, and we have always paid 5 cents a can, and now we have to pay it for water bottles too.

[Renee in NC]

We have a regular group of trash-pickers who come through. We leave stuff out for them all the time (stuff we know the trashmen won't take, but they will.)

[RoughCollie]

FYI: If your trash is at the curb, you have abandoned it and thus you have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding it, according to the Supreme Court of the United States. This means strangers can go through your trash, including the police (ostensibly looking for evidence against someone in your household) and people who are looking for dirt on you (think of the problems celebrities have).

 

 

California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35 (1988):

 

Greenwood had no reasonable expectation of privacy in it [his trash]. Although Greenwood had hidden the trash from view by putting in opaque plastic bags and expected it to be on the street only a short time before it would be taken to the dump, the Court believed it to be “common knowledge” that garbage at the side of the street is “readily accessible to animals, children, scavengers, snoops, and other members of the public.” Moreover, Greenwood had left the trash there expressly so that the trash collector, a stranger, could take it.

 

Now if the trash is on your property at the curb (which it likely is) and someone is going through it, you can call the police and insist they come to take care of the trespasser. That's what I'd do if I lived in a populated area. It's funny, in the rural area I live in now, people politely come to the door to ask if they can take something that has been left out with a sign on it saying that it is Free to Whoever Wants It. Since it takes the police 45 minutes to get here, it wouldn't do much good for me to call them anyhow.

Edited September 8, 2010 by RoughCollie

[flyingiguana]

Where we live, the city supports its recycling program by selling the junk. So if someone comes and picks out the good stuff, the city will get to the point where they can't run a recycling program anymore.

 

When we've seen this happening, we've called the police. The police don't seem to arrest them. They just "talk" about how what they're doing is illegal in this city.

 

I know people are out of work and all, but there are certain things that are out of line. Taking recyclables out of the recycling is actually stealing from the city. And then there are the folks who have started helping themselves to things donated to church rummage sales, so they can take them off and sell them at their own rummage sales. I suppose they see it as goods that the original owner didn't want anymore, but it's still stealing. And as some of these rummage sales are raising funds for local food shelves, it becomes a little hard to stomach.

[flyingiguana]

Totally off topic, but not all states have can deposits? I did not realize that. I have always lived in Oregon, and we have always paid 5 cents a can, and now we have to pay it for water bottles too.

 

I've never lived in a state with deposits. What a great thing that would be!

[AnotherLinda]

I actually had a man ask me if it would be okay for him to go through my trash. I thought it was nice of him to ask and I ended up bring some things out of the garage for him to have.

[Baseball mom]

It happens quiet often around here and doesn't bother me. I just make sure I shred anything with personal info on it.

 

Not to long ago a neighbor moved. The next day there was a couple out there going through the garbage cans and boxes the neighbor left by the road. This couple was really digging through the stuff and made a mess. I watched them take various pieces of clothes, a quilt, and some dishes. They put all their stuff in one of the bags they opened. Then they cleaned everything back up before they left.

 

As long as they don't leave a mess I don't mind someone getting something they can use. Hey beats sending it to the landfill.

[Oops, duplicate account :/]

It happens quiet often around here and doesn't bother me. I just make sure I shred anything with personal info on it.

 

Not to long ago a neighbor moved. The next day there was a couple out there going through the garbage cans and boxes the neighbor left by the road. This couple was really digging through the stuff and made a mess. I watched them take various pieces of clothes, a quilt, and some dishes. They put all their stuff in one of the bags they opened. Then they cleaned everything back up before they left.

 

As long as they don't leave a mess I don't mind someone getting something they can use. Hey beats sending it to the landfill.

 

I can't believe what ppl throw away! What a shame.