Is this scary to you

[MercyA]

Your mom sounds like a lovely woman. I have great sympathy for homeless people, but the situation would make me feel uneasy. I think putting up the camera was the right thing to do. Perhaps that will be all it takes. 

[Melanie32]

I think we all feel a need to protect our loved ones. Knowing that there are strangers on their property desperate enough to dig through their trash could definitely cause us to fear for their safety. We love them and want them to be safe. It’s not about doubting the intentions of the stranger-we don’t even know who they are! It’s about being cautious for the safety of those near and dear to our hearts.

 

I live in a very low crime area, a small rural town where there are a few, but not many, homeless people. It is not a normative thing to have someone digging through your trash. People would naturally be unnerved to find evidence of this. Of course we would want to help the person/people but helping without caution, especially for those of us who are more defenseless, is not always the wisest course of action.

 

[MEmama]

10 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Boy I am so glad I live in Australia. Here it is perfectly safe and normal to offer help to someone stuck on the side of the road. No danger at all.

Must be absolutely awful to live in a country with so much violence and fear

I hope you forgot the /s.

 I truly truly hope you don't have such a warped perception of this country. 

[MEmama]

10 hours ago, Scarlett said:

And no she wasn’t harmed but she could have been because the woman was not in her right mind and mom walked right in front of the vehicle and up to the woman’s door. 

And yet again, nothing bad actually happened. There are a lot of maybes and could haves and mights in these stories that that haven't actually played out. Are you truly saying someone shouldn't make sure a person in need is ok because your mom got yelled at? Have you never reached beyond your comfort zone to give a helping hand? 

[Scarlett]

Just now, MEmama said:

And yet again, nothing bad actually happened. There are a lot of maybes and could haves and mights in these stories that that haven't actually played out. Are you truly saying someone shouldn't make sure a person in need is ok because your mom got yelled at? Have you never reached beyond your comfort zone to give a helping hand? 

The woman did not actually need anything at that moment. Nothing we could give for sure. She was on a road  with no traffic except us in the middle of a sunny day in a small rural town. My point of telling that story was to show that my mom did  not see things for how they were. She did not see that the woman was in a vehicle that screamed violence, or that the woman was almost certainly high on meth. She did not see that the woman was in fact not ‘an old woman’ but a woman probably in her 40s ravaged by meth use. 
 

And you are dismissing the woman’s reaction as just ‘yelling’. The woman was unhinged and it even scared my mom. 

[Scarlett]

Also I do help people. I don’t feel the need to write out a list of what I have done ‘outside my comfort level’. 

[SKL]

In any case, it is bad advice to tell people not to trust their instincts when it comes to concerning behavior.  There are safe and unsafe ways to help the needy.

Edited September 23 by SKL

[MEmama]

37 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

The woman did not actually need anything at that moment. Nothing we could give for sure. She was on a road  with no traffic except us in the middle of a sunny day in a small rural town. My point of telling that story was to show that my mom did  not see things for how they were. She did not see that the woman was in a vehicle that screamed violence, or that the woman was almost certainly high on meth. She did not see that the woman was in fact not ‘an old woman’ but a woman probably in her 40s ravaged by meth use. 
 

And you are dismissing the woman’s reaction as just ‘yelling’. The woman was unhinged and it even scared my mom. 

I'm not dismissing anything, Scarlett. I just see it differently that's all. Your mom would  have been a hero you would rightfully brag about had the woman needed medical help.

I'm fully aware that there are unsafe people and situations. But dang, if I were in an unmoving car in the middle of an intersection I'd sure hope other drivers would offer assistance. Typically that sort of situation would mean a person had a seizure or heart attack, not that they are on meth. I guess my default is to assume the best not immediately jump to the much less likely worst.

This thread is a good reminder that we don't all think the same.

[Scarlett]

26 minutes ago, MEmama said:

I'm not dismissing anything, Scarlett. I just see it differently that's all. Your mom would  have been a hero you would rightfully brag about had the woman needed medical help.

I'm fully aware that there are unsafe people and situations. But dang, if I were in an unmoving car in the middle of an intersection I'd sure hope other drivers would offer assistance. Typically that sort of situation would mean a person had a seizure or heart attack, not that they are on meth. I guess my default is to assume the best not immediately jump to the much less likely worst.

This thread is a good reminder that we don't all think the same.

It is true we don’t all think the same. However if you had been there there is a good chance you would have seen it more like I did  and less like my mom. 

[SKL]

47 minutes ago, MEmama said:

I'm not dismissing anything, Scarlett. I just see it differently that's all. Your mom would  have been a hero you would rightfully brag about had the woman needed medical help.

I'm fully aware that there are unsafe people and situations. But dang, if I were in an unmoving car in the middle of an intersection I'd sure hope other drivers would offer assistance. Typically that sort of situation would mean a person had a seizure or heart attack, not that they are on meth. I guess my default is to assume the best not immediately jump to the much less likely worst.

This thread is a good reminder that we don't all think the same.

You and I weren't there, so how can you see it at all?

There are safe and unsafe ways to help.  I think Scarlett said her mom ran in front of the car.  I would not have run in front of a stopped car when the status of the driver was in question.  I would have figured out another way to get to the side and check on the person.  I wouldn't have run up and got into the person's face.  I would have tried to do an assessment from a safe distance.  I might have called 911 before doing that, depending on the situation.  You're supposed to call 911 ASAP rather than fuss around doing this and that for a person who might need urgent medical assistance.  Then 911 may guide what you do next.

In community emergency response training, they always stress that you call for help rather than endanger yourself.  Why?  Because if you jump into a dangerous situation, that's one more person taking up the first responders' time and resources.  So you assess the situation, decide how safe it is, and then figure out what kind of help the person may need and whether or not you're the best person to render it.

[SKL]

1 hour ago, MEmama said:

And yet again, nothing bad actually happened.

What is this logic that good people don't take precautions until after something bad has happened?

[Roadrunner]

Trespassing on their property is a no. 
Leaving food out is also a no. Here it would attract all sorts of animals and rats which in turn attract rattlesnakes.

Definitely keep an eye on the camera and if it’s a homeless person, let the local nonprofits or agencies in charge of helping them know there is somebody in need.

I would also ask the neighbor to go and check on that abandoned trailer.

My friend once came home from vacation to a homeless man showering in her house. 

[Pawz4me]

Several of you have mentioned trespassing.

IANAL, but I don't think the situation as described would fit our state's definition of trespassing, which requires clear communication (either verbal or via posted signs is how I take it) that uninvited people shouldn't be there. I believe that entering someone's fenced yard would count as trespassing, since most reasonable people assume a fence is meant to contain things and to keep other things out.

But just walking in someone's yard -- I don't think that counts as trespassing here.

(I can provide a link to our pertinent general statute if anyone is that bored.)

Edited September 23 by Pawz4me

[Scarlett]

7 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

Several of you have mentioned trespassing.

IANAL, but I don't think the situation as described would fit our state's definition of trespassing, which requires clear communication (either verbal or via posted signs is how I take it) that uninvited people shouldn't be there. I believe that entering someone's fenced yard would count as trespassing, since most reasonable people assume a fence is meant to contain things and to keep other things out.

But just walking in someone's yard -- I don't think that counts as trespassing here.

(I can provide a link to our pertinent general statute if anyone is that bored.)

It is inside a fence. But I agree that even that is not necessarily trespassing. However as someone mentioned up thread going through their garage is illegal. 
And going inside a fenced yard in the middle of the night is just foolish. 

Edited September 23 by Scarlett

[Wheres Toto]

8 hours ago, Scarlett said:

She did not see that the woman was in a vehicle that screamed violence, or

I don't know if I missed something but was there something about the car itself that was off?  I'm not sure what a "vehicle that screamed violence" would mean.

[klmama]

The windshield had been smashed in.

[Scarlett]

24 minutes ago, Wheres Toto said:

I don't know if I missed something but was there something about the car itself that was off?  I'm not sure what a "vehicle that screamed violence" would mean.

 

11 minutes ago, klmama said:

The windshield had been smashed in.

Yes. It has been a few years since it happened…but I do remember thinking it looked like she had just had that happen. It definitely wasn’t safe to be driving. 

[MEmama]

17 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

 

Yes. It has been a few years since it happened…but I do remember thinking it looked like she had just had that happen. It definitely wasn’t safe to be driving. 

So why would any person driving along choose to not HELP HER? Stopped vehicle in the middle of the intersection + smashed in windshield speaks to me as someone needs HELP, not judgement. Holy crap. 😞 

[Scarlett]

19 minutes ago, MEmama said:

So why would any person driving along choose to not HELP HER? Stopped vehicle in the middle of the intersection + smashed in windshield speaks to me as someone needs HELP, not judgement. Holy crap. 😞 

You keep saying middle of the intersection. She was not. She was just stopped in the middle of the road. With no traffic. I was not opposed to calling the police but I did not want to approach her because…. And I feel like I have said this several times…. It seemed to me it was a very unstable and dangerous situation. And it turned out I was correct about that and I am glad she did not run over my mom or pull out a weapon when mom approached her door. 
 

And you are using the word judgment like it is a dirty word but we judge situations all of the time.  Similar words are awareness, assess, discernment. I certainly am not judging her worthiness as a human only that she seemed to be a danger to us at that moment. 

[sweet2ndchance]

21 hours ago, Scarlett said:

I would have been fine with calling the police to come and assess her. Mom specifically did not see any of the red flags I saw. It is hard to describe all that I took in but I knew the woman  was mostly likely on something .

Her behavior was irrational but people who have recently been through a traumatic experience also act irrationally. You also said (multiquote isn't working for me for some reason) her windshield looked like it had been smashed in and she was just staring straight ahead which speaks of trauma to me. Maybe she just escaped a violent relationship that resulted in her windshield being smashed and she was stopped where she finally felt safe and was processing/deciding her next steps. When you are in fight or flight mode, it can be hard to discern friend from foe. We don't know/won't ever know but it seems pretty unfair to assume she was "on something" based on this incident alone unless your mom saw drug paraphernalia in the seat beside her. I think that is the kind of judgement that others in the thread are referring to.

If you weren't physically or emotionally able to help her, that's fine, it's good to know your limits when it comes to helping people. But I find that it is much more helpful to give people some grace, rather than jump to conclusions.

[Scarlett]

I don’t know why it seems so hard to believe that I can tell if someone was drugs. 

Bu it seems like I am being judged for my assessment of a situation *I* was in and none of you were. 
 

And my reason for this story is to point out my elderly mom does not have a sense of her surroundings. 

[katilac]

On 9/21/2024 at 6:37 PM, AmandaVT said:

 According to locals, people are flocking in from out of state to access our benefits (VT has a hotel voucher program, relatively easy access to free healthcare and a ton of food assistance). 

I would take these comments with a grain of salt, as moving is expensive and generally quite difficult for most people with low incomes. Vermont does have a motel/hotel voucher program, but they are a typical "shelter first" state, meaning that you will be going to a shelter if there is room, and there are various eligibility requirements and a limit on the number of days - I'm not saying it's not a good or useful program, just that I don't people are pulling up stakes so they can live in a motel in Vermont. 

Vermont is, and has been, experiencing the same housing crisis that is affecting so many other states, so it's very likely that the vast majority of the unhoused are home-grown. 

On 9/22/2024 at 12:01 PM, Clarita said:

 Free food is available, someone rifling through trash just needs help getting to the legitimate free food.  

I agree with a lot of other things in your post, but I have to point out that free food being readily available to everyone in America is very much a myth. Free food is fairly available in a lot of areas, but America is a big place and that it definitely not true everywhere. 

In my area, there were always plenty of churches and food banks that gave out food to anyone who said they needed it, so I was shocked to find out that a lot of areas/organizations have fairly elaborate applications, and turn down lots of people. Some places don't give out that much, some places have very limited hours, some people live where getting to these places is very difficult (rural areas often lack both nearby food banks and public transit). 

On 9/22/2024 at 8:39 PM, Scarlett said:

There is a lot of help available. The trailer belongs to one of the other neighbors and I know they would not want someone squatting there. And I am not sure they are, it is just a possibility 

If the trailer belongs to one of the neighbors in a seven-house neighborhood, surely they know if someone is squatting in it. Or you can tell them to check. 

13 hours ago, MEmama said:

I hope you forgot the /s.

 I truly truly hope you don't have such a warped perception of this country. 

I'm an American who loves my country, but I don't think there's any denying that there's an awful lot of violence and fear. 

1 hour ago, Scarlett said:

I don’t know why it seems so hard to believe that I can tell if someone was drugs. 

Because no one can always tell if someone is on drugs. 

Story time! Once, at work, we had an outside tech come to fix something. After a while, we noticed he was acting oddly - as you said, staring straight ahead and completely spaced out. When we tried to talk to him, he was clearly disoriented and even somewhat aggressive. We definitely thought we could tell that he was on drugs. 

We called his office to say he was under the influence of something and had to leave, and they immediately began screaming to call 911, that he was diabetic and going into hypoglycemic shock. And they were 100% correct. 

I'm not faulting you for not approaching her personally, just pointing out that I learned the hard way that you cannot always tell when someone is on drugs, no matter how classic the signs. 

Edited September 24 by katilac

[MercyA]

50 minutes ago, katilac said:

Because no one can always tell if someone is on drugs. 

This is true. A stranger once asked me if I was on drugs because I was nervous and speaking very quickly. I'm not neurotypical and I know I can seem odd to other people. 

[KidsHappen]

2 hours ago, katilac said:

Because no one can always tell if someone is on drugs. 

Story time! Once, at work, we had an outside tech come to fix something. After a while, we noticed he was acting oddly - as you said, staring straight ahead and completely spaced out. When we tried to talk to him, he was clearly disoriented and even somewhat aggressive. We definitely thought we could tell that he was on drugs. 

We called his office to say he was under the influence of something and had to leave, and they immediately began screaming to call 911, that he was diabetic and going into hypoglycemic shock. And they were 100% correct. 

I'm not faulting you for not approaching her personally, just pointing out that I learned the hard way that you cannot always tell when someone is on drugs, no matter how classic the signs. 

I had something similar happen to me once. There was a car driving very erratically on the interstate and then she came to a complete stop in the middle lane where cars were driving 65 mile per hour. I immediately assumed that she was having a medical situation based on previous experience. I was riding with my dd in her van and had her stop so that I could help the woman. Turns out she was diabetic and in hypoglycemic shock. She managed to communicate that and then we checked her blood sugar and I got her candy and a soda. I drove her to the next exit followed by my dd (so she wasn't in an accident on the interstate) and then we called for help. This is not the first time I have helped someone in a vehicle who was having a medical emergency. I have also personally had experiences that someone may have assumed were drug related when in fact they were medical. So I do agree with you here but I think I would at least be concerned if someone was coming in my fenced in back yard at anytime of the day. 

We are required to keep our garbage cans in the garage until the night before garbage day. If they were outside they would be next to the garage which is removed from any living areas of the house so I am not sure I would even notice and if I did I am not sure I would be very concerned. I think at first I would assume it was an animal, mostly likely a racoon. They are much smarter than people give them credit for. We used to have a racoon that would come to our sliding glass window and knock and then hold his hands around his eyes and look in the window. My cats did not appreciate this much at all. However, if it was my elderly parents and I was sure it was a person going in their fenced in backyard I would be more concerned for them that if it was happening to myself even though I am now elderly myself. 

[DawnM]

On 9/22/2024 at 12:10 AM, Scarlett said:

I will say some of y'all remind  me of the videos about how white women aren’t afraid of anything…

Are you talking about Jay?  I love that guy.   To the bear, "Come on pokey, let's go home and mama will get you some nice fish and grapes while I sew you a new dress to put on."

[DawnM]

I'm here for the updates of who is rifling through the trash cans!   Human?   Beast?   Alien?   

I have the popcorn popped!

[DawnM]

Scarlett, I would be worried if it were my parents too.   My dad got more frail as he aged and would not have been able to defend himself if anything escalated.   But my mom would have been one to put the sandwich on top of the trash for anyone who she knew was hungry.   She grew up poor and had a real heart for helping those in need no matter who they were.   She would help when dad and I were concerned about safety issues for her and told her not to approach certain people.

Edited September 24 by DawnM

[Scarlett]

2 hours ago, DawnM said:

Are you talking about Jay?  I love that guy.   To the bear, "Come on pokey, let's go home and mama will get you some nice fish and grapes while I sew you a new dress to put on."

Yes him! He cracks me up. 

[DawnM]

Just now, Scarlett said:

Yes him! He cracks me up. 

Me too!

[Scarlett]

3 minutes ago, DawnM said:

Me too!

But I do think he is actually saying white women are stupid 🤔

[katilac]

10 hours ago, Scarlett said:

But I do think he is actually saying white women are stupid 🤔

No, I don't think he's being mean-spirited about it at all. 

He's an animal lover and rescuer himself. He started off just posting funny videos with his own dog, and then started posting animal rescue vids with funny commentary. As it happens, when you search for animal rescue vids, you will discover a plethora of white women rescuing, sweet talking, and/or cuddling pit bulls, coyotes, hyenas, bears, bald eagles, possums, and more. 

 He didn't question  or condemn this gold mine of insanity, he just started making funny videos about it. 

[Clarita]

1 hour ago, katilac said:

As it happens, when you search for animal rescue vids, you will discover a plethora of white women rescuing, sweet talking, and/or cuddling pit bulls, coyotes, hyenas, bears, bald eagles, possums, and more. 

I used to think these were all in jest, until someone on my Nextdoor seriously asked about who to call to rescue a wild turkey. She was following this bird around trying to catch it. 

[maize]

On 9/22/2024 at 12:37 PM, wintermom said:

Why are there so many garbage cans outside the houses with food? Keep them indoors until garbage day. Lock car doors (and don't leave valuables in the car), lock garage doors, back doors and gates. Keep the property well lit. Cameras and security signage. Perhaps have 'dog barking' noise at night  triggered. Just smart behaviour IME no matter where you live.

That's assuming you live in a house with a garage 

[SHP]

On 9/22/2024 at 8:39 PM, Scarlett said:

There is a lot of help available. 

Tell me you have never tried to get any assistance without telling me. 

It may seem like there is a lot of help available, but the reality is there are waiting lists for case management and the case management then manages the waiting lists you are on, assuming they are even open. 

Housing can take decades and wait lists are more often closed than not.

Medicaid is great, if you can qualify and if there are providers.

Food pantries are great, but not if they are designed to be drive through and you don't have a car. Or you cannot get there because you cannot walk that far. 

The best way to get services is to have reliable transportation, enough PTO that you can spend entire weeks on the phone calling every provider. *Weeks* is not an exaggeration, as any parent of a disabled/chronically ill child can tell you, getting "help" is a full time job. Frankly, I used more respite hours after my intense bursts of provider hunts than I ever dreamed of needing providing the day to day care. And I am in a place of privilege with a team of people.

Help isn't as readily available as many people think

[Scarlett]

6 hours ago, SHP said:

Tell me you have never tried to get any assistance without telling me. 

It may seem like there is a lot of help available, but the reality is there are waiting lists for case management and the case management then manages the waiting lists you are on, assuming they are even open. 

Housing can take decades and wait lists are more often closed than not.

Medicaid is great, if you can qualify and if there are providers.

Food pantries are great, but not if they are designed to be drive through and you don't have a car. Or you cannot get there because you cannot walk that far. 

The best way to get services is to have reliable transportation, enough PTO that you can spend entire weeks on the phone calling every provider. *Weeks* is not an exaggeration, as any parent of a disabled/chronically ill child can tell you, getting "help" is a full time job. Frankly, I used more respite hours after my intense bursts of provider hunts than I ever dreamed of needing providing the day to day care. And I am in a place of privilege with a team of people.

Help isn't as readily available as many people think

I was referring to food, not housing. And there are homeless shelters but there are some who won’t go to a shelter because of the rules. When we get really cold weather there are a couple of business in this small town that open up as warming stations and the community takes hot  food there and other things that can be easily microwaved etc. 

[wintermom]

8 hours ago, maize said:

That's assuming you live in a house with a garage 

There are lots of ways and places to store or dispose of garbage. If your garbage cans right outside your house were being pilfered for multiple months, then you either change your behaviour with your garbage/house, or you are ok with it being pilfered.

I guess in this example the people tell their adult dd so she can worry.

[SHP]

4 hours ago, wintermom said:

There are lots of ways and places to store or dispose of garbage. If your garbage cans right outside your house were being pilfered for multiple months, then you either change your behaviour with your garbage/house, or you are ok with it being pilfered.

I guess in this example the people tell their adult dd so she can worry.

As someone without a garage who stores garbage outside of the house. 

I absolutely cannot imagine keeping an entire weeks worth of garbage inside. The smell. The cats getting into it. The attraction of bugs and other pests. Nope. Not happening.

[prairiewindmomma]

Not all food pantries are great. My BTDT of accompanying someone by giving a ride to a food pantry: waited outside for 90 minutes, the line was two city blocks long. The allocation of food was the same whether you were a family of one or a family of 10.

The goods that day, for the monthly visit: one box of soup, one packet of canned salmon, one one pound bag of dried beans, one bag of pasta, one box of mac and cheese, 6 eggs, one can of peaches, one can of tomatoes, one box of broth, one box of oatmilk. I took a photo because it was so eye opening. It was not enough to feed her family size for two days. 

[SHP]

5 hours ago, Scarlett said:

I was referring to food, not housing. And there are homeless shelters but there are some who won’t go to a shelter because of the rules. When we get really cold weather there are a couple of business in this small town that open up as warming stations and the community takes hot  food there and other things that can be easily microwaved etc. 

Want assumes the most volunerable are not disabled in any way.

One shelter has a rule that persons must be physically able to get in and out of bed and toilet independently. Is that a choice? 

When I was severely anemic and my POTS was out of control I wouldn't have qualified because I needed help getting out of bed for my safety.

I didn't meet the level of need for in home help either so I wouldn't have had the option of a nursing home type set up either. 

I would have either died due to exposure or injury because I needed more help than was allowed,  but didn't qualify for any other assistance or finally progressed to a point where I was sick enough to be admitted and hope I was stabilized and wheeled out to the bus stop. 

[wintermom]

38 minutes ago, SHP said:

As someone without a garage who stores garbage outside of the house. 

I absolutely cannot imagine keeping an entire weeks worth of garbage inside. The smell. The cats getting into it. The attraction of bugs and other pests. Nope. Not happening.

So what do you do to 'protect' your garbage from thieves? 

Personally, I recycle all paper/cardboard, metal, plastic, glass and compost. That leaves very little other matter. I have 6 adults living in my house, 3 dogs and 1 cat. We only have garbage pick-up every 2 weeks. We usually only have 1 bin. How much garbage are people in the US creating? 

I'm just going to assume that in the OP situation, 2 older adults do not accumulate a large amount of garbage. Surely they can figure out some way of storing it in a way that is secure. If not, perhaps @Scarlett can help them out. Maybe the garbage is more secure at her house. 

Edited September 25 by wintermom

[fairfarmhand]

5 minutes ago, wintermom said:

So what do you do to 'protect' your garbage from thieves? 

Personally, I recycle all paper/cardboard, metal, plastic, glass and compost. That leaves very little other matter. I have 6 adults living in my house, 3 dogs and 1 cat. We only have garbage pick-up every 2 weeks. We usually only have 1 bin. How much garbage are people in the US creating? 

I'm just going to assume that in the OP situation, 2 older adults do not accumulate a large amount of garbage. Surely they can figure out some way of storing it in a way that is secure. If not, perhaps @Scarlett can help them out. Maybe the garbage is more secure at her house. 

 I’m glad you have recycling. Most people in my area do not. 

[Amira]

I’ve volunteered long-term at food banks.  Yes, food banks are available and we gave food to anyone who came. But people also had to wait in line for at least an hour outside in whatever the weather was that day, to get their uncooked meat and vegetables. Meat and vegetables obviously aren’t a great option for people who are unhoused.  The food also wasn’t enough to get one person through the week, much less a family, so they would have to go to other food banks with the associated waits and weather problems on other days. Some days the food bank opened late or was understaffed, so people had to wait two hours, or had to leave the line because they had to be at work.

The food bank I most recently worked at was run by a mosque, so they tried to provide flatbread (the meat was always halal, obviously), but the many Latinx families coming couldn’t get any culturally appropriate food like masa harina.  Of course, not all Latinx families want masa harina, and it’s not only Latinx families who want it, but there are often cultural foods that can really make a difference when you’re having a rough time.  Food banks don’t always (or can’t) take that into consideration.

There are places to get shelf-stable food, certainly, but they also often require cooking and storage.  If people are hungry and unhoused, their options are rather limited.  That doesn’t mean there are no options, but it’s a lot of work to feed yourself if you don’t have the resources to simply go to the grocery store.  

I’ve been thinking about this thread a lot.  I think that I would tape a gift card to a local, inexpensive grocery store on the top of the garbage can in this situation.  I’m not comfortable leaving food out for many reasons, but I still think it’s mostly like that this person is hungry, so I’d want to help them access food.  

[SHP]

22 minutes ago, wintermom said:

So what do you do to 'protect' your garbage from thieves? 

Personally, I recycle all paper/cardboard, metal, plastic, glass and compost. That leaves very little other matter. I have 6 adults living in my house, 3 dogs and 1 cat. We only have garbage pick-up every 2 weeks. We usually only have 1 bin. How much garbage are people in the US creating? 

I'm just going to assume that in the OP situation, 2 older adults do not accumulate a large amount of garbage. Surely they can figure out some way of storing it in a way that is secure. If not, perhaps @Scarlett can help them out. Maybe the garbage is more secure at her house. 

What do we do to protect garbage? We don't. I bought a large rolling bin on Amazon that sits outside and we chuck bags into it until trash day.  

Compost has fees we decided are too high since we also have to take it to the location, so we don't compost. We don't have a yard for a pile or bin.

We recycle as much as we can but that isn't a bin we just toss everything into and send off to be sorted. Ok it is, but it isn't. We have limited recycling. They take some, not all, plastics for example.

There isn't a central recycling location, I go to A for glass, B for styrofoam, C for metal D for electronics, E for hazardous waste and so on. All of those are in different parts of the city and have limited hours. It is impossible for me to get to them, so my husband tries to adjust his schedule so he can go on occasion. It's a pain and sometimes we just don't. It's also insane to spend that much time in the car to recycle. It would take me 2-3 hours if I went to all of them in the same day. This is also very car dependent and requires resources many people don't have. 

We take paperwork into work and shred there.

 

[wintermom]

40 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

 I’m glad you have recycling. Most people in my area do not. 

Why not? Isn't this a priority? Waste reduction is a worldwide concern. If you don't have it, then perhaps you can work to change that. 

[Scarlett]

1 hour ago, fairfarmhand said:

 I’m glad you have recycling. Most people in my area do not. 

Right. We don’t. 

[fairfarmhand]

21 minutes ago, wintermom said:

Why not? Isn't this a priority? Waste reduction is a worldwide concern. If you don't have it, then perhaps you can work to change that. 

We don’t even have county trash pick up. 

[SHP]

1 hour ago, wintermom said:

Why not? Isn't this a priority? Waste reduction is a worldwide concern. If you don't have it, then perhaps you can work to change that. 

It's a political issue. 

[wintermom]

43 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Right. We don’t. 

 

41 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

We don’t even have county trash pick up. 

Don't you have a say in how your taxes are used, and what programs for sustainability and waste management are implemented? Individuals each driving their own garbage and recycling rather than a centralized pick-up would create more emissions and be far less efficient. 

[Bambam]

7 minutes ago, wintermom said:

 

Don't you have a say in how your taxes are used, and what programs for sustainability and waste management are implemented? Individuals each driving their own garbage and recycling rather than a centralized pick-up would create more emissions and be far less efficient. 

Our city (we are outside city limits) now charges to pick up recycling. There was a vote, the majority voted to pay for recycling pick up. At first (years ago) the city was paid by the recycling company for the privilege to pick up recycling, then it was a break even point, now they charge to pick it up. I believe it is $9/month to pick up your recycling (my understanding is there no opt in/out, everyone pays whether they participate or not). Unfortunately, recycling plant had a disaster and now there is no recycling in this area.  

So recycling really isn't available in my fairly rural area. 

[lauraw4321]

Recycling is frequently a loss leader, so I'm not surprised that many places don't have it.