# How do you throw away a Garbage can? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 1999, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772 "1999-08-17T04:26:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/1 "1999-08-17T04:26:00Z")
Well, how do you? Let’s pool our wisdom and maybe Cecil’s and help our buddy Greg out. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/2 "1999-08-17T04:32:00Z")
Spray paint “This can is garbage!” on the side. I’ll also note that a couple times, I’d set a wastepaper basket on the curb because I didn’t see the need to empty it into a larger can, only to have it taken as trash. Oh well, you’d think I’d learn. * * * “I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/3 "1999-08-17T04:39:00Z")
The city has hauled away three of mine,one definatley needed to go,but one was practically brand new.The city replaced them.I thought about letting the wrecked one pass but,hey how often do you get a free garbage can? On the other handI have had them empty and leave 5 gallon paint buckets i stuffed with trash. The topic of throwing away a real can did come up in talking to the supervisor,he suggests leaving it empty but put a big note on it"take this can",similar to Joph’s idea. ---
**Author:** ![Hazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazel)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/4 "1999-08-17T04:48:00Z")
Related problem – trash removal in the office. It’s kind of a Catch-22 thing. If you have an item to discard that’s too big to fit in the wastebasket, it’s often left behind, even if you put a note on it saying “TRASH”. But every now and then a carton of supplies of some sort will be taken away because it was on the floor and someone decided that “it looked like trash”. ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/5 "1999-08-17T04:53:00Z")
Trash is in the eye of the beholder. Ray ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/6 "1999-08-17T05:15:00Z")
If the can is a metal one, you can stomp it flat, then toss it out front. The meaning should be pretty clear. If it is a plastic one, a box cutter will take care of it. Slice it into chunks small enough to place in another can. * * * **FixedBack** “Moderate strength is shown in violence, supreme strength is shown in levity.”~~_G.K.Chesterton 1908_ ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/7 "1999-08-17T06:09:00Z")
Kinda reminds me about a story a friend told me. (Although this may be BS) He said that when the band “Garbage” was going to another country (England maybe) all there equipment was discarded because it was labeld with the bands name “Garbage” Just though I’d mention it. * * * Formerly known as Nec3f on the AOL SDMB ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/8 "1999-08-17T06:21:00Z")
A theory to throw another monkey in the wrench. If you write “Garbage” on a can the sanitary engineers (read: garbage men) would likely interpret that as “this can is intended for storing garbage”. Before you say “Duh”, that is in opposition to the cans for the recycling and the furry little green hand puppets. I just don’t see the typical garbage man taking 30 sec to read a little instruction note, you’re lucky if the truck comes to a complete stop and they put the cans back in the vicinity of the curb. ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/9 "1999-08-17T06:37:00Z")
When i was a lad,and we tired of rolling manhole covers down the hill, it was diverting to take the galvanized cans down to the tracks at night.Lay um on their sides, open end toward the train to trap reflection,and… even more fun when there was garbage in um. At that time in that town most people used 55 gallon oil drums.Our garbage men were REAL big,there were a lot of chiropractors in town too. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/10 "1999-08-17T07:14:00Z")
1. Take your garbage cans to the dump. 2. Fill them with something so sticky that you can’t get it out and when they try to empty the can, they’ll have to throw the whole thing away. 3. Move and leave them behind. Let the new occupants take care of them. ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/11 "1999-08-17T11:29:00Z")
Well if it’s not too heavy, overhand. Buy a bigger garbage can and put it inside that. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/12 "1999-08-17T11:30:00Z")
Re: office trash. If you want to make sure the janitors throw out a pile of trash, mark it “Trash/Basura.” Basura is Spanish for trash. I’ve been given pre-printed notes from my janitorial service that say just that. I was told that many janitors (especially in the big cities on the East and West Coast) speak Spanish instead of English. ---
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/13 "1999-08-17T11:33:00Z")
As far as the office garbage goes, we were supposed to write Garbage or Trash on items, since they were the only words the night crew were taught to read. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/14 "1999-08-17T12:51:00Z")
Our company provides orange stickers that say “Trash” in English and Polish, that we’re supposed to use. Any cleaning people who don’t read English or Polish, can be shown the orange stickers and told in their own language what they mean, and it works pretty well. On the other hand, I had a plastic garbage can lid that was cracked and broken and unusable, and I could never get the garbage people to take it away. I’d stuff it in the can, they’d leave it. I’d mark it “Take this away, it’s trash”, they’d leave it. I finally hid it in a carton, clouding their minds so they wouldn’t see what they were taking — nyahhh hahh hahhh, who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men! ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 1999, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/15 "1999-08-17T14:33:00Z")
Put it in a dumpster. How do you get rid of a dumpster? ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 1999, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/16 "1999-08-20T16:59:00Z")
The reason my trash can is obsolete is that the city has gone to this new collection system. They provided special cans which can be picked up and dumped by a device on the side of the truck. The sanitation engineers never have leave their seats. The down side is that the SEs never _will_ get out of the truck. They won’t even take cardboard boxes that aren’t in one of the cans. I’m pretty sure they won’t take a garbage can marked as trash either. Beware, this system is coming to a town near you! ---
**Author:** ![Holly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/48db29/32.png) [@Holly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Holly)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 1999, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/17 "1999-08-21T01:57:00Z")
In my town, we just have dumpsters. Every three or four houses share the same dumpster, which is located in the alley unless you live on the poor side of town, in which case you have no alley so they put the dumpster on your front lawn. This isn’t as bad as it sounds, because the lawn-dumpster is likely to be decorated with festive gang symbols that blend nicely with your decor. (If you live on the nice side of town, you have a PAVED alley and new, freshly painted, graffiti-less dumpsters.) We don’t have a recycling program either, but the homeless people have a relatively easy time digging through the dumpsters. They only take the aluminum cans, though. To be polite, if I have aluminum cans I put them in a separate bag on the side. They appreciate that. ---
**Author:** ![typertrphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@typertrphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typertrphy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 1999, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/18 "1999-08-21T13:50:00Z")
mojo raises a horrifying question…how DO you get rid of dumpsters? I mean…one cannot just mark a 700 pound steel container “Hey, this is garbage”, now can one? I would love to believe that far off the coast of Long Island, is an area on the sea bed known as the Great Dumpster Divide. There, ancient and odorous dumpsters provide a rich living space for little sea creatures, and scuba divers alike. But then, I still think that Supertramp had serious artistic merits 🙂 Typer ---
**Author:** ![JMSaSU](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@JMSaSU](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JMSaSU)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 1999, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/19 "1999-08-21T14:42:00Z")
Since I work on the back of a garbage truck I can tell you we only take cans that have notes on them to that effect. If I find a can that the stuff won’t come out of I put the whole thing back. We get in trouble otherwise. Politicians hate to replace cans the residents claim we took by mistake. Even though metal cans can be recycled we will take it to the landfill (it seems only fitting) In the past ten years I haven’t had to buy a garbage can. Many that are marked for disposal are still plenty good for me. Lids are important to keep out rain. Garbage Men know water weighs 8.3 lbs per gallon. Our trucks are weighed in at the landfill at the cost of $48.00 per ton. The scales don’t know the difference between H2O and spoiled meat. We have a recycling program in our town but I can safely say there is not a single can I lift each day that doesn’t have a recyclable item in it. Sure it’s only a little bit but I get to see the total of the little bits and it ends up being a lot. Tons and tons of little bits. JACK ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 1999, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772/20 "1999-08-21T16:23:00Z")
I just put the old can in the new one and they take it. Say, Im in California and they have new regulations. We have to recycle 50%. So they are going to give us 96 gallon containers for ‘yard trimmings’ and 32 gallon for ‘usual trash’ plus recycle bins. Cost? About $10 month. More if you use more cans. Usually it was four cans, one price, now the more cans the more money. Still have no idea how they figured we need three times as much for yard trimmings. I guess they put people out there searching thru the crap. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-throw-away-a-garbage-can/2772.md?page=2)