Some new people moved in 3 doors away. The day after garbage day, one of my cans was missing. The next week ,they had the same can. It is one of the black ones with wheels. But they did not get the lid. So I have one can and 2 lids. They put out one can, no lid. It has the same sticker ,from the same store that we got ours.
My wife is determined to reclaim it next Thursday. I do not think her suspicions rise to the level of proof. I see war when she grabs it.
So I double pit. I pit my wife for acting on a lower thresh hold than i would. I pit people who steal garbage cans.
I lost a can to one of those neighborhood bandits, then I noticed -everyone has their cans chained up. Now I know why.
We’re planning to paint our house number on our garbage can. We lost the first one we got, either to thieves or to the wind.
ETA: Dave_Enn, do you live in a windy or rural area? Wind or animals might be two plausible reasons other than thieves that people would chain up their garbage cans.
Wow if my neighbors were that strapped for cash they felt the need to steal my garbage can I’d just let them have it. Plus I’m a firm believer in “pick your battles”. So far I’ve never actually had to pick one 
The OP can take the can back and paint the house # on the bottom (underneath). That way, you can claim it was always there and offer it as proof as to how there’s no way it can be their “missing” can. Do the same for all your other cans as well, natch.
Give them the lid. It’ll put them on notice that you know they have the can. Then get a new can and mark it HUGELY with your address on both lid and can. They’ll know they’re not fooling anybody and, in the off-chance that they did *not *take your can, you’ll be the kind neighbor who gave them a lid for their lidless can.
You know, that’s EXACTLY what Aslan would say to do. I mean that as a compliment, by the way.
Amateurs.
Wait until you are sure they aren’t home. Throw a brick through the bedroom window, followed by a sack filled with several dozen large spiders. Make sure the sack isn’t tied shut. By the time they get home, the spiders will have scattered and hidden themselves. After a few encounters with your 8-leggged minions, the new neighbors will sell the house at a loss just so they don’t have to sleep there anymore. Then you can reclaim your trash can at your leisure.
Also, am I the only one who imagined a Rorshach diary entry from Watchmen while reading the OP?
I second this tactic. They’ll likely be too embarrassed to confront you or your wife. And if it happened the way I think (you say it went missing the day after garbage day, or after the garbage was picked up?), they may have just adopted it as their own out of laziness (and yes, some dickishness, too). Better to let passive aggression simmer for a few years than to start things off with a shouting match or something.
Yeah, if the OP occurred to me, next garbage day I’d go out in the middle of the night and dump their trash out of my can onto their lawn or driveway. (That is, assuming they put their trash out the evening before.)
The idea of painting the address on the bottom is a good addition. Only possible problem would be if the trashmen tend to leave the emptied cans upside down as ours sometimes do.
I’m curious abut the OP - especially the bit “they did not get the lid.” Do you suppose they took the can during the day after they were emptied but before you and your wife got home? I’m trying to figure out how a theif could be so incompetent to steal the can but neglect to take the lid. And of course they deserve the criticism of competent theives everywhere for not stenciling THEIR address on the can after stealing it! 
I was sure a neighbor stole my garbage can once. Mine was missing and they had the same type, same color, same sticker. But mine had blown into the back yard. And there are only a few types of garbage cans and a few stores to buy from so about 20-30% of the garbage cans I see would have been a match. I often don’t put the cans out with the lids because the lids can blow away.
So don’t be so sure they stole yours. You might ask them if they found the can in their yard. There’s always time to start a war later.
I guess we’re lucky…our garbage cans are provided by the town. When the wheels broke on ours we just exchanged it. Kind of silly to steal a neighbor’s can when 1)They’re all the same and 2)You get them free as part of the garbage service.
I used to be located where the wind blow almost all lose objects during a windy day. I got about 4 garbage cans a year in my yard. Ask them if they found the can or purchased it. You know where to go with this if they found it.
The can was just a test run. The *lid *is the real caper.
Just keep throwing your trash away in it. If they give you hell, shoot 'em. Or tell them to fuck off and steal it back later and put into action some of the amazing ideas presented here. I like Furious Marmot’s suggestion for the record. 
We have a large city provided 90 gallon trash container. One day a few years ago, I went out to get it from the curb and noticed it had different scuff marks on it and a large split in the side that wasn’t there. I’m pretty sure my shitstain neighbor traded us. My wife was pissed and wanted to trade back, but I let it go. It functions just as well with the split and besides it’s not really even ours anyway.
They prolly don’t know I was spraying Roundup over the wall onto their newly planted tree and shrubs in the back corner…
Really? Because I think he’d say, “DUDE! I’m a talking lion.” Also, “What’s a homeowner’s association?”
My wife is an over filler. The lid rarely fits on. We put it out without the lid more than half the time.
She will confront them.
Hey, that’s your neighbor’s problem if you enact my suggestion.
Another option if they give you hell, is to tell them, “Well, we would have appreciated you asking if you could borrow our trashcan, but it’s still not too far away for us to throw our own stuff away too.”
Or something.
Fool of a [del]Took[/del] Marsh-wiggle!
Aslan is Jesus, and Jesus is God, and God is omniscient, so Aslan is omniscient. Obviously he knows what a homeowner’s association is.