my neighbors are rooting through my trash! Yuck!

[dmatsch]

The title says it all. I have some across-the-street neighbors who are rather -- shall we say -- have a general redness in the neck regions. Constantly drunk, never employed, new-drama-every-day, and now this.

We were talking the other day, and I casually mentioned that I'm going to be getting rid of the extra fridge in the garage. They promptly piped up and said, "We'll take it!" "We get some of our best stuff from your trash".

Then then run through the laundry list of items that I've thrown out that they have helped themselves to. It was staggering the crap that they took from me. One man's trash, I guess...

This completely creeped me out, and I don't like it. My already-low opinion of them has sunk to ... well ... lower. I am actually sort of worried about break-ins now. The stuff I have in my house is WAY cooler than what I throw out.

This is just disgusting. And to admit to it to your victim is doubly so. Get me the hell out of Florida.

[dactylic hexameter]

Knowing that someone was going through my trash regularly, I'd make sure to shred or blackout any sensitive info (receipts with credit card info, stuff like that). I'm not saying your neighbors will try to rob you but someone else might....

[zut]

Why are you throwing out perfectly good stuff?

[Starving Artist]

Originally Posted by dmatsch

This is just disgusting. And to admit to it to your victim is doubly so. Get me the hell out of Florida.

You're a victim?

They're taking stuff that you've announced to the whole world you are casting aside. You don't want it. You want it to be gone. Why are you a victim because they take it instead of the trash truck?

I can understand your concern over break-ins, but from your description of them I think I'd worry about that whether they were taking your refuse or not. Still, unless and until they do so you haven't really been victimized.

ETA: And don't blame Florida; people like that are everywhere.

[dmatsch]

Originally Posted by Starving Artist

You're a victim?

They're taking stuff that you've announced to the whole world you are casting aside. You don't want it. You want it to be gone. Why are you a victim because they take it instead of the trash truck?

I can understand your concern over break-ins, but from your description of them I think I'd worry about that whether they were taking your refuse or not. Still, unless they do so you haven't really been victimized.

I just knew that I'd get a whole slew of dopers coming in here and saying just that. It's easy to do when it's not you who have neighbors pawing through your trash.

You do admit that this behavior is disgusting, right?

Please tell me that if your neighbors came up to you and said the same things, that you wouldn't be the slightest bit squicked out about it?

I never said that it was "perfectly good stuff" -- there's a reason it was thrown out in the first place. I'm ranting because it's just gross to root through other peoples trash. When does that EVER get cool?

Give me a break, dopers.

[Harmonious Discord]

With them digging through your trash at least you won't attract bag ladies.

I had trash digging people that were a nuisance. I made sure everything was smashed completely. The digging stopped after it was clear everything was useless every time to even the most persistent of pack rats.

Throwing out a cassette tape that is bad? Make it clear it's bad. Cut up the tape. If they think it may be usable they will dig, even if it's not. That pan that cooked food sticks to after 10 years of use, needs to be hit with a hammer a few times.

Dad used to make some monster tricycles, toy tractors and toy trucks from when he went to the dump and found them lying in plain site. There are still toys around the house from that.

[An Arky]

Hey, I think you're right in that the thought of your neighbors are going through your trash is unsettling. I don't really have a problem with people getting things from trash or people throwing out unused filet mignons, for that matter, but the knowing part....eeesh!

[Stoid]

Originally Posted by dmatsch

T
This completely creeped me out, and I don't like it. My already-low opinion of them has sunk to ... well ... lower. I am actually sort of worried about break-ins now. The stuff I have in my house is WAY cooler than what I throw out.
.

I don't think this is a legitimate concern in the least. They havent' done anything criminal.

Would you be grossed out when I raid your green recycle bin for my compost? I do that all the time...

[Starving Artist]

Originally Posted by dmatsch

I just knew that I'd get a whole slew of dopers coming in here and saying just that. It's easy to do when it's not you who have neighbors pawing through your trash.

You do admit that this behavior is disgusting, right?

Not necessarily. If they were ringing your bell and asking if you had anything you didn't want anymore, that might be beyond the pale, but I don't see much of a problem with their looking through stuff you've thrown out to see if any of it would be useful to them.

Originally Posted by dmatsch

Please tell me that if your neighbors came up to you and said the same things, that you wouldn't be the slightest bit squicked out about it?

There's a guy across the street from me who makes a good living but he just loves free stuff and bargains. He's constantly going to thrift stores looking for bargains and if we've thrown out something he'd find useful he'll come ring the bell and ask if we'd mind if he took it. He's become a good friend and he and his wife have had me over several times for good food and wine and has bought me gifts (booze, mostly ) that far outweigh in price the value of anything that he ever got from us. He's not a cheapskate, he just loves to find uselful things at a bargain.

Originally Posted by dmatsch

I never said that it was "perfectly good stuff" -- there's a reason it was thrown out in the first place. I'm ranting because it's just gross to root through other peoples trash. When does that EVER get cool?

There are lots of people who'll put "Free" signs on stuff they've thrown out if it's still in working order just so someone who could use it would know that it still works. That would be cool, as is the way my neighbor approaches it. Granted, it would be more polite if they were to ring your bell and ask if you'd mind, but from the way you appear to regard them (and I'm not saying it's without good reason) I'd imagine that, given your 'druthers, you'd just as soon not have them ringing your bell.

Originally Posted by dmatsch

Give me a break, dopers.

I can understand you thinking it's not cool. I gave a couple of examples above where it is cool, but under the circumstances (low-life rednecks, troublesome, etc.) I can see where you might not agree. Still, you aren't a "victim", and that's the point of contention where I'm concerned. I suspect you just don't like them (and Florida, to boot) and are using this situation with them to magnify and justify those dislikes.

[Hilarity N. Suze]

Eh, we had some people a couple of blocks from us who always, always had a garage sale.

When we threw out usable junk, or even some we considered not particularly usable, it would turn up a couple of days later in their "garage" sale.

Whenever we threw out something that seemed possibly useful, we set it on top of the dumpster, to make it easier. That way, they didn't have to root around in the dumpster.

[Jenaroph]

Originally Posted by dmatsch

I never said that it was "perfectly good stuff" -- there's a reason it was thrown out in the first place. I'm ranting because it's just gross to root through other peoples trash. When does that EVER get cool?

Honestly?
It completely depends on what it is you're throwing out that they're taking.

If they're bragging about the time they opened your kitchen trash and scored a half loaf of perfectly good bread that was just a bit moldy and a bunch of kleenex that were only slightly used, then yeah, I'm with you, that's gross.

But that table with the broken leg? If you have some wood glue and clamps and know how to use 'em, it IS perfectly good. Maybe as a kid's work table in the playroom. The stereo amplifier with the balky switch is good as new in the hands of someone with a soldering iron. Same for the toaster that doesn't toast anymore.

Around here people trash pick for fixable, reusable stuff. This is well known enough that most people will put out potentially pickable items the evening before trash day in the hopes that someone will take it. We've done so, with old furniture and stuff over the years, and I've seen it taken. If not, it goes to the dump where it sits and rots. (This isn't some junky rundown neighborhood either, by the way; this is upper-middle class suburbia.)

My mother picked a pair of comfy (though very '80s) chairs from a neighbor (who'd redecorated) and used them in her school counseling office. Sweetie has trashpicked electronics before, but some of his better finds have been desks or shelves that he's demolished for parts and rebuilt for custom built equipment racks. Better to recycle, he feels, than to spend a couple of hundred bucks on a new piece from China that isn't exactly what he needs anyway.

I'm not sure I'd rattle off a list of stuff to the neighbors I'd taken it from, but I wouldn't feel odd about taking it. I also don't think you have anything to worry about break ins from these people. For a lot of people,"finders keepers" is a big part of the point of looking, and the idea of robbery is far away from that principle.

[tr0psn4j]

Yeah it's a bit disgusting but who cares. They need/want the stuff and you've thrown it away. I imagine this would have been a lot less of a problem if they never mentioned they were digging through the trash.

[Bam Boo Gut]

When I lived in Amsterdam years ago the people would leave the reusable rubbish separate from the trash and there was a whole industry of people going around on a Thursday night picking up things. If the plug had been cut off that indicated the item was not working - but obviously a part or two might solve the problem and someone will always be willing to try. Maybe you could try something like this to keep them from rooting through the real trash which I agree is creepy.

Where I now live you can chuck it out safe in the knowledge that there are people down at the dump waiting to grab that stuff and refurbish it.

[Shayna]

I've taken things from other people's trash in the past. Not from rooting through it, but because it's right out in the open. Sometimes, if I can find them, I'll ask if they mind if I take the item, but if they're not around, I just take it. One time a neighbor put half a dozen really nice, large, potted plants out at the curb for the trash. I asked him about it and he said an ex left them behind, refused to come get them, and he doesn't "do" plants. He helped me drag them into my house!

If you don't want your neighbors digging through your garbage, why not just ask them if they want something before you throw it in the trash? They might be really grateful.

[Harmonious Discord]

There is grabbing something of use from the curb and then there is a line people cross when they open your bags of trash and rummage through it.

[Alessan]

Originally Posted by Bam Boo Gut

When I lived in Amsterdam years ago the people would leave the reusable rubbish separate from the trash and there was a whole industry of people going around on a Thursday night picking up things. .

They do that here, too. Anything I don't need that someone might still want - furniture, electronics, clothing, kitchenware - I leave on the sidewalk in front of the trash area. It's usually gone within the hour.

And hey, what goes around comes around. I've got some perfectly decent shelves I picked up off the street; some good books, too.

I wouldn't actually pick through trash, though.

[NurseCarmen]

Behind my house is the magic alley. Anything you put back there disappears. If I think anything is even marginally interesting to anyone, I leave it in the M.A. before putting it in the bin.

[Starving Artist]

I've also heard, though I don't know it for a fact, that there is pretty good money to made by going around the night/morning before trash PU and scavenging metal to sell to recyclers.

[Bootis]

Its disgusting to open up trash bags and root through them to see if there's anything there. But if people taking a perfectly good chair or lamp or table sitting by the curb are disgusting, then damn, let them eat cake, eh?

[Harmonious Discord]

Originally Posted by Starving Artist

I've also heard, though I don't know it for a fact, that there is pretty good money to made by going around the night/morning before trash PU and scavenging metal to sell to recyclers.

The bottom has dropped out of the scrap metal market. The local county recycling program hasn't been selling it's scrap for months in the hopes they'll get better prices. I'm betting on them having to sell before that happens, because they run out of room.

[redtail23]

Not particularly gross, unless they're actually rooting through kitchen garbage or something. From your OP, I'd guess they're taking furniture and appliances, not used toilet paper.

My town has a twice-yearly "big trash day", when you can put out almost anything and they'll haul it to the dump for you.

So tons of people go "junking" and trade their old junk for someone else's. People drive around with trailers to pick up the stuff that other folks are throwing out. Many people save anything potentially useful for junk day, so that someone can take it rather than sending it to the dump.

In between times, unwanted-but-potentially-useful stuff usually goes to the curb for handing on.

We have numerous chairs, lamps, bicycles, etc., that were thrown out as trash. All they needed was a little TLC from someone with some minor repair skills and they're perfectly fine.

We've had various TVs and electronics (working & not), furniture, much scrap metal, etc., go to new homes. We've actually gotten annoyed the last couple times, because the city has started doing early pickups. Dammit, we put that out early so that people could take it, not to go to the dump!

It's large-scale "reduce, re-use, recycle". Get a grip.

[Terrifel]

Try thinking of it this way: they aren't "rooting through your trash," they're "helping you recycle."

Yes, it's a bit unsettling to discover that the neighbors have carefully rescued all your used porn. But it's better for the planet, really.

[Starving Artist]

Originally Posted by Harmonious Discord

The bottom has dropped out of the scrap metal market. The local county recycling program hasn't been selling it's scrap for months in the hopes they'll get better prices. I'm betting on them having to sell before that happens, because they run out of room.

Not too surprising given the state of the economy these days. Thanks for the info.

[Orbifold]

It's trash. You are, by definition, done with it. Unless they're leaving it scattered over your lawn like raccoons I really don't see your beef here.

[Euphonious Polemic]

At our house, "trash" is fairly minimal. It has to be non-compostable (Meat and bone, cooked stuff). It is not glass, metal, paper, cardboard or plastic both hard and soft - these are recycled. Non working electronics or appliances go to a recycling depot too. We end up with one small grocery bag every 2 weeks.

God help anyone trying to go through our trash. They'd have a choice of used tissues, old chicken bone, bit of mouldy cheese or used dental floss.

[Der Trihs]

Originally Posted by dmatsch

We were talking the other day, and I casually mentioned that I'm going to be getting rid of the extra fridge in the garage. They promptly piped up and said, "We'll take it!" "We get some of our best stuff from your trash".

Then then run through the laundry list of items that I've thrown out that they have helped themselves to. It was staggering the crap that they took from me. One man's trash, I guess...

This completely creeped me out, and I don't like it. My already-low opinion of them has sunk to ... well ... lower. I am actually sort of worried about break-ins now. The stuff I have in my house is WAY cooler than what I throw out.

I don't think so. Besides the other reasons people have mentioned, I doubt someone thinking in terms of robbing you would make such an admission; the last thing they would want is to make it obvious they like your stuff. Casually discussing the fact that "We get some of our best stuff from your trash" strikes me as something that would be said by someone who has a clean conscience when it comes to stealing from you.

[The Devil's Grandmother]

Originally Posted by Stoid

I don't think this is a legitimate concern in the least. They haven't' done anything criminal.

Would you be grossed out when I raid your green recycle bin for my compost? I do that all the time...

I guess it depends on where you live. Where I live in California, it is criminal to steal someone's trash. My trash/recycling belongs to me, and then it belongs to the trash/recycling company.

While I would not be grossed out about your taking the contents of my yard scraps bin, I would be annoyed. The recycling in my town is (sorta) paid for by the selling of recyclables and city compost. When you take the useful stuff the city collects, you are driving up my tax bill. In my current neighborhood, no-one bothers my yard scraps bin, but any recycling that has a deposit is stolen.

I used to have a neighbor who dug through our trash. He was creepy on several levels, so maybe if he was more like Starving Artist's bargain-loving neighbor I'd have been ok with it.

All that aside, if I have stuff that is unwanted but usable, I typically give it to a Goodwill-type charity. If (for whatever reason) I don't want to make a trip to drop it off at the Goodwill-type charity, I'll put it on top of the trash.

[Guinastasia]

When I was little, my mother saw our neighbor taking an old box of hats from the 1950s that she didn't want anymore out to the curb. They were in pretty good condition, just a little battered. Mom asked said neighbor if she could have them, for Baby Sis and I to use to play dress-up with. They weren't dirty, or gross, like I said, and she didn't actually root through any garbage.


I think the op is just a snob. A lot of time "garbage" isn't so much "garbage" as just perfectly good things that the thrower-outer just doesn't want anymore. Besides, was the fridge still useable? Why on earth then would you just pitch it? Wouldn't you be glad to have someone that could actually use it?

[WhyNot]

Originally Posted by Shayna

I've taken things from other people's trash in the past. Not from rooting through it, but because it's right out in the open. Sometimes, if I can find them, I'll ask if they mind if I take the item, but if they're not around, I just take it. One time a neighbor put half a dozen really nice, large, potted plants out at the curb for the trash. I asked him about it and he said an ex left them behind, refused to come get them, and he doesn't "do" plants. He helped me drag them into my house!

Yay! All hail the Goddess Skor!

Originally Posted by redtail23

Not particularly gross, unless they're actually rooting through kitchen garbage or something. From your OP, I'd guess they're taking furniture and appliances, not used toilet paper.<snip>
It's large-scale "reduce, re-use, recycle". Get a grip.

Exactly! This isn't gross, it's the modern day equivalent of "The Noble Savage used every part of the buffalo." Why fill your landfill when it's stuff that's perfectly useful to someone else?

www.freecycle.com

Just sayin'.


(Hail, Skor!)

[fisha]

I'm on both sides of this.

I have no problem screeching to a halt when I spy something on the side of the road that looks useful. I also have put many things on the curb or the yard for someone else to grab.

On the other hand, someone systematically going through my trash every week looking for tidbits of worthwhile items without permission is pretty out there.

[Omega Glory]

I'm with the people who says it depends on what they're taking. What do you mean "rooting through"? Are they opening your trash bags and sifting through it, or taking large things that are on the curb because they're too large to be bagged and binned? First = strange, second = not strange in the least.

It's common around here for people to put put things that still have life in them a few feet away from the garbage for others to grab.

[Q.E.D.]

Put me in the "who gives a fuck?" camp.

[Jolly Roger]

Back in the mid nineties some unit on the post I was on threw away about 20 perfectly good zip drives. From what I understand they either had decided not to use them because the disks were too expensive or they were getting internal ones installed. I didn't care enough to ask. I took a big ol bag to the dumpster and rooted 'em out. I don't have them anymore, but I used one myself for awhile. I gave the others away.

[Biggirl]

I. . . I . . .*cough*. . . I. . . ahem. . .. Lemme try again. . ..



I agree wholeheartedly with Starving Artist.


This shows exactly how wrong the OP is. You threw it away. They were discreet enough that you didn't even know they were doing it until they told you. Skeeve all you want, that shit wasn't yours once it hit the curb. Oh and, yeah, you should have been shredding your crap before you know your neighbors were dumpster diving.

[SmartAleq]

I can show you four or five families who have working computers for free because a whole bunch of other people threw away old computer parts. Himself rescues old stuff, Frankensteins them into usable internet capable boxes and gives them to people who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford them. What, they should go to a landfill? Pshaw...

ETA: You okay there, Biggirl? Didn't damage anything, didja?

[Starving Artist]

Originally Posted by biggirl

i. . . I . . .*cough*. . . I. . . Ahem. . .. Lemme try again. . ..



I agree wholeheartedly with Starving Artist.

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

Buy a cheap used piano and have it put out on your curb with a "free" sign on it, and then watch them struggle to move it. At least get some hilarity out of all this.

[Jane Elliot]

Back when I worked for a garbage company the drivers and helpers were always saving stuff that people threw out. There were big expensive department stores that threw out nice, still wrapped items that got scooped up by the crews.

Now it's all part of the new frugalista lifestyle.

[An Arky]

I, for one, was thinking more of kitchen garbage than junk. I doubt many people have any problem with and in fact welcome someone giving their junk new life.

We recycle and Freecycle and all that, so our trash really is trash, hence the expression of squickiness.

[Leaper]

Originally Posted by The Devil's Grandmother

I guess it depends on where you live. Where I live in California, it is criminal to steal someone's trash. My trash/recycling belongs to me, and then it belongs to the trash/recycling company.

Huh, really? Does that mean that the police in your area can't do the "it's in the trash, so it's public property" thing they do on TV?

[NurseCarmen]

Let's all hope the latex recycling market doesn't pick up.

[Cat Whisperer]

Originally Posted by Alessan

<snip>
And hey, what goes around comes around. <snip>

Absolutely. I've got a nice utility table, a picnic table, and a huge box of lps out of the trash; when we were cleaning out our house last year and made a pile of trash and old doors and stuff, I noticed that some of our stuff on the trash pile disappeared, and I was glad to see it go - less stuff for me to haul to the dump. We recycle stuff within our family all the time - between five households, the chairs and tables and beds and tvs make the rounds.

Part of the "new frugality" that makes me chuckle is having grown up in a household with a Mennonite mom - none of this is new. The Mennonites and people like them have been reducing, re-using, and recycling for a long time now.

ETA: Forgot to address the OP - I'm very much in the "get over yourself" camp, too. If you didn't know they were garbage-picking, it can't have been affecting your life much.

[Ensign Edison]

Got the chair I'm sitting on off the curb. Had it twelve years now. Guess I'm a gross creep for not letting it go to waste in a dump. I know the world is filling up with garbage and all, but I wouldn't want anyone to think I'm not classy enough to be wasteful. And why do I have the nagging suspicion the OP is also one of those folks who are mad at the poor for spending all their money on stuff they can't afford?

Victim. Bless your heart.

[Hippy Hollow]

It's refreshing that people aren't so invested in putting on airs and that they are comfortable saying that they get stuff from the trash.

I have a well-paying job now, but my living room furniture came from Salvation Army - precisely the quality of stuff one could find on the streets of Boston when dumpster diving. And I see no reason to upgrade it. It's durable, cheap, and if something gets spilled on it, no big deal.

The OP never clarified if the neighbors were cutting up his/her trashbags and digging through snot rags, soup bones, etc. That's kind of gross, and they should not leave your cans in disarray. However, if they're finding stuff they can use, they're being socially responsible by keeping your junk out of a landfill. More power to them, I say, and as others have said, why not make it easier by leaving your good junk out and accessible?

[Infovore]

I have no objection to people taking usable items I've thrown away--in fact, like others I'll put them out next to the trash (and if they're really good I'll put a "free" sign on them). We've got a little Asian lady (I've seen her--she wears one of those Chinese coolie hats that I didn't think anybody wears in real life, and I don't think she speaks a word of English) in our neighborhood who will come by every week the night before trash morning and pretty much take all of our recycling. There really isn't any way to stop her short of calling the cops on her, so we don't bother. If she can get some extra money from our old aluminum cans...whatever. I don't need them anymore.

Where I'd draw the line, though, is people rifling through our actual trash can, opening the bags and such. If that happened, I'd get annoyed because I can guarantee we don't throw away anything that anyone would want. Old food wrappers and cat doots...uh...no. But so far that hasn't happened, so it's all good.

[clayton_e]

I lived in a place where the trash bins were behind the house. Sometimes a neighbor would be found in the back opening cans and rooting through bags. He'd also take any items left next to the cans in the open ended shed type thing.. I'm pretty sure he took only somewhat useful stuff (not a crazy guy picking up old tin cans and piles of old magazines to hoard).

The neighbor who lived downstairs where he walked past the door of to get there called the cops and he was arrested for tresspass.

He came back and did it again sometime later and got arrested again.

[BigBertha]

Must be nice. The people next to me (a woman with 4 kids in a 2 bedroom) have thrown stuff IN my trash. I finally got rid of the can, and drop my trash off in a nearby place.

[SomeUserName]

Who gives a shit.

Hell I have throw out stuff and had people stopping before I could haul it all out to the curb and told them there was more in back where that came from. They were so thrilled they hauled it from the back for me and right to their truck. Saved me the labor if doing it.

I was "victomized" last month . It was a broken monitor. It was there at 7pm at night but some thief must have grabbed before day break the next day.

Originally Posted by Tamara+

Must be nice. The people next to me (a woman with 4 kids in a 2 bedroom) have thrown stuff IN my trash. I finally got rid of the can, and drop my trash off in a nearby place.

I am perplexed as to why they were placing their garbage in your bin? Were you charged for garbage pick up or something?

But what irks me is was it necessary to point out a mother of four in a two bedroom? Maybe that is all she could afford? Ever think there might have been two kids to a room and she slept on the couch?

[GuanoLad]

Three times I've put things out on to the kerb for "hard rubbish day" as it is known here. Not once has any of my stuff been still there when the pickup comes around - always there are others who have found it first and taken it for themselves.

It's what we all expect to happen, and I'm happy to see it.

[Frank]

Originally Posted by SomeUserName

It was a broken monitor. It was there at 7pm at night but some thief must have grabbed before day break the next day.

I once put a broken monitor in the trash room, and saw it disappear and reappear three times before the garbage company got it.