# An extra trash can appeared at my curb this morning **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 28, 2007, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785 "2007-05-28T15:11:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/1 "2007-05-28T15:11:15Z")
I can’t be sure of the time. I always put the trash can and recycling bins out early Sunday night. I don’t have to work today so I slept in, and didn’t discover the extra can until 8:00 this morning. It’s a regular trash can. Similar to mine, except it has wheels and a locking lid. It’s sitting right next to mine. I opened the lid…trash inside. I looked up and down the street…from where I stood, I could see most of my neighbors’ cans out at the curb. Usually the recycle and trash trucks have been here by now. I don’t want to be charged extra for the can, nor do I want the sanitary company to think _I_ put out an extra can. So I put a note on it that reads, “This is _not_ mine. I don’t know whose it is. It just showed up this morning.” I’m off to the gym. By the time I get back I’m sure they’ll have been by…and I’m curious to see if they dump the extra can or not. (I can hear the trucks up the street as I type this.) ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/2 "2007-05-28T15:15:49Z")
We had a neighbor at our last place who was too cheap to contract for garbage pickup (a whopping $10/month) and after we left for work, she’d drag her trash over to our driveway. My husband had a talk with her, and it stopped, although for all I know, she started dragging it to the neighbor’s on the other side. That’s a level of cheesy I never imagined. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/3 "2007-05-28T15:16:06Z")
I don’t know that they’d find, or read your note. Maybe you’d best let them know in person, if you really don’t want to be charged. Although, you might be anyway, since it’s on your property… _unsure_😕 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/4 "2007-05-28T15:20:05Z")
You pay by the can? Per pickup? Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/5 "2007-05-28T15:21:43Z")
Any way you can make a mark on the can, so that when the owner brings it back, you can spot it at their house? Some small paint spot? 😕 I’d certainly do it, and then go for a walk to spot where it belongs. Then I’d try to get some kind of video or pictures of the can at the person’s house, then on my curb and turn them in. ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/6 "2007-05-28T15:24:42Z")
If your trash company is anything like mine, you can call the central office and they can radio the truck…plus then you can instruct them not to pick it up/charge you extra…my trash co. charges by volume, I know. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/7 "2007-05-28T15:28:06Z")
[QUOTE=Zabali\_Clawbane] Any way you can make a mark on the can, so that when the owner brings it back, you can spot it at their house? Some small paint spot? [/QUOTE] Small paint spot? How about a big note in chalk saying: KEEP YOUR TRASH TO YOURSELF or something like that? Subtle but effective, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/8 "2007-05-28T15:28:08Z")
Heck, I’d even be tempted to put a paint stripe around the can, at that. If it’s a repeating event, I would. Then I’d walk and look at the fronts and backs of the houses to see which house the can belonged to, and report them. This way the trash men would know who to charge. (And the city would know who to fine for having garbage left out.) ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/9 "2007-05-28T15:45:44Z")
Sometimes my, um, thrifty neighbor will disperse their trashcans throughout the neighborhood if they happen to be over their quota. Of course, she asks for permission first. Personally I think it’s pretty nervy and silly to go through all that trouble to save a buck, plus the driver never reports extra trash cans anyway, but to each her own. I’d let it go this time and then take action if it happens again. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/10 "2007-05-28T16:05:33Z")
If you garbage disposal company is like mine, it is a holiday for the employees too and your trash won’t be picked up till tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/11 "2007-05-28T16:16:04Z")
It may be a social housing unit. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/12 "2007-05-28T16:17:36Z")
[QUOTE=LSLGuy] You pay by the can? Per pickup? Wow. [/QUOTE] A lot of municipailties are adopting pay-as-you-waste programs for “waste diversion” to encourage recycling and to help control the amount of stuff that is ending up in landfills unnecessarily. (Eg/ Around here, there are an estimated 80 million glass bottles that end up in landfills when they could be recycled instead.) In conjunction with other waste diversion programs, some municipailties have been able to increase recycling and composting rates considerably. In Ontario, Canada the aim is a 60% diversion rate. San Francisco apparently has some very innovative and effective recycling and waste diversion programs and have surpassed the state-madated 50% diversion rate. Recycling there has increased by 90% and they’ve been able to maintain a 67% diversion rate. That’s a lot of “garbage” that is no longer garbage. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/13 "2007-05-28T16:18:39Z")
Probably a cheap neighbor. We had an agent who use to bring his house trash to work everyday and put it in our bins. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/14 "2007-05-28T16:24:01Z")
[QUOTE=Swallowed My Cellphone] A lot of municipailties are adopting pay-as-you-waste programs for “waste diversion” to encourage recycling and to help control the amount of stuff that is ending up in landfills unnecessarily. (Eg/ Around here, there are an estimated 80 million glass bottles that end up in landfills when they could be recycled instead.) [/QUOTE] I’d always assumed the scheme here was just a way of the waste company to make more money. We’re allowed one bin per pick-up. If the lid doesn’t close then there is an extra charge. On my work schedule I’m away most of the day except for Friday through Sunday. Roomie has a similar schedule that keeps him away all night. Paper, glass, cans and plastic go into the recycle box in the kitchen (and later, to the bins) and most organic waste goes onto the compost pile. We’re on a monthly pick-up plan, and it works out well. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/15 "2007-05-28T16:44:56Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] I’d always assumed the scheme here was just a way of the waste company to make more money. We’re allowed one bin per pick-up. If the lid doesn’t close then there is an extra charge. [/QUOTE] Oh, there’s that element as well, I’m sure. But PAYT programs have been proven to be quite effective for waste diversion, particularly in places where they are used in conjunction with well-desigend recycling programs, like in San Fran where they’ve got their “Fanatistic Three” program (fancy bins to help pre-sort garbage at the source). ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/16 "2007-05-28T20:35:35Z")
I heard the trucks comin’, so I went out there and talked to the pickup man. He’s a nice guy I see only on days off. I asked if he’d ever heard of such a thing before and he said no. He also knows what everyone’s trash can looks like, which amazed me. He asked if I wanted him to take the can and I said no. Then, he looked up the street. Across the street and two houses up, my neighbor’s two recycling tubs were out…but no can. So he took it over there after he emptied it. A few hours later, I was doing work in the yard, and so were the neighbors with the can. They are very nice people. Older, but not old (he’s a Vietnam Vet). I went over and asked if it was their can that got returned. He said, “Oh, did that happen to you, too?” I said, “No, your can was next to mine.” I got blank stares from both of them, then they both laughed as things started to fall into place. Earlier that morning (and it must have been well before eight) his wife asked him if he had taken out the trash. He said yes. She said, “Well, the can isn’t out there.” And by 8:00 he had gone to Wal Mart and bought a new can. They figured someone had stolen it. They did say that at 4:30 a.m. their dog went absolutely nuts, barking and yapping at something out front. I s’pose someone was, what, goofing around? I thought maybe someone took it to rifle through it, but the trash bags inside it were all still tied up. [LSL Guy, yeah, I pay by the can. I’m allowed one (whatever size it is) per week, and one of the same size for yard debris every two weeks. I’m allowed two recycling bins every week.] ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/17 "2007-05-28T21:05:07Z")
Moving a trash can from one person’s house to another? :dubious: Weird! I still miss our trash pickup at the last place we lived, where we could put out _anything_ and they would pick it up. Rolled-up torn-out carpeting from three rooms? Check. Old appliances? Check. Mountains of trash? Oh, yeah. The only stipulation was that if it was bigger than average, you make a call and they’d do a special pickup. That was really nice, especially when we mioved out! (But even there I freecycled or donated _vast_ amounts of stuff to keep the trash down.) The way they do trash where we lived in Japan is what I wish they’d do around here – recycling is mandatory, and you have to put your trash out in clear bags so that if there’s recycling in them they won’t pick them up till you sort out the recycling! We do recycle everything we possibly can as a result, and I’m pleased to see that most of our neighbors are recycling more and more all the time, too. I don’t know if we have a pickup quantity limit here, though; with twice-weekly trash pickup, if we have too much for our one huge can we just wait till the second pickup. That’s only happened a couple of times, whereas we normally completely fill two recycling bins on a weekly basis. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/18 "2007-05-28T21:58:56Z")
We used to have a problem with the neighbors behind us and to the left coming over and “borrowing” one of our empty cans the day before trash pickup, and filling it up and putting it out at their spot on the alley. That stopped as soon as I spray-painted our house numbers in big white letters on all three of our trash cans. So now they just leave all their trash in a big pile, stacked up in a crazy leaning tower next to their one token trash can. And thanks to the stray dogs and raccoons who happily rummage on Monday and Thursday nights, there is now crap all over the alley like you wouldn’t believe. I almost begin to wish I’d let them keep using our can. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/19 "2007-05-28T22:20:11Z")
[QUOTE=Mama Tiger] The way they do trash where we lived in Japan is what I wish they’d do around here – recycling is mandatory, and you have to put your trash out in clear bags so that if there’s recycling in them they won’t pick them up till you sort out the recycling! [/QUOTE] Identity theft would go through the roof, here, if you had to put out your trash in clear bags. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785/20 "2007-05-28T23:02:28Z")
I used to have neighbours that did that. They were disgusting pigs, too – extra bags of… disposable dishes, cutlery, and food. No wonder they had extra garbage to dispose of - they used disposable _everything!_ Styrofoam plates, filthy paper towels, _diapers…_ Again and again it happened, and often they would set it out before I took my trash out - putting me over my bag-limit, so I’d have to move them somewhere else so my trash got picked up. After a while, I got fed up. If I moved them into the alley, crows would pick them apart and make a bigger mess to clean up. I went to great lengths: Each time it happened, I donned rubber gloves and went through it, looking for identifying trash, transfering item by item into another bag. Nothing! So I would move the bags into my garage. After a couple of months, I had six bags of composting nasty garbage sitting in my garage. Big bags, too. On the seventh bag, I hit paydirt. A magazine with an addressed subcription sticker on it - a few doors down, on the other side of the alley. I _emptied_ those seven bags in their back yard. Fuckers. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-extra-trash-can-appeared-at-my-curb-this-morning/405785.md?page=2)