Trash added to my trash pickup -- Should it bother me?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Am I wrong to feel this way?

Normally nobody is at home at our house from, oh, 7:30 until after 5 p.m. Today I got sent home mid-morning due to a plumbing/flooding problem.

It’s trash pickup day. At the foot of the drive way was our bin of recyclables, our trash can, and THREE MORE trash cans. Huh?

These were big, square green plastic bins w/wheels. Definitely not ours. I looked into them, and they seemed to contain demolition debris type stuff. Looking around, I saw there were similar bins at the houses on both sides of me and the three houses across the street where I could see the foot of their driveways. (Snow heaps, you know.) Three at each of these houses.

So I went to the neighbor who’s an elderly woman living alone, because I know she spends hours staring out her windows. She told me that this has been going on for weeks, well over a month. A pickup truck comes down the street, puts three cans at a bunch of households, and then some time after noon they come back and pick up the empty bins. I asked her if they’d ever asked her permission to leave the bins at her house. No. And she hadn’t ever confronted them about it because, well, she’s a frail woman in her 70s, so I wouldn’t expect her to.

While we were talking the garbage truck came down the street, and they picked up the trash from my house, apparently not finding it unusual.

So… I went home, put our empty containers PLUS the strange ones into our garage. And locked the door. I will give them back their containers, but they damn well are going to have to come to the door and ASK me for them so I can give them a piece of my mind.

I happened to know of a house that’s being renovated just around the corner from our street. That street is a busy highway, so maybe they’re are just doing this because of traffic/space. Or maybe they are dodging the limits on how much trash one household can have picked up ‘free.’ I don’t know what the rules are.

Anyway. I am surprised at how outraged I feel over this. How DARE they put their crap in MY yard???

OTOH, in truth, I cannot see that they have harmed me in any way. Let’s face it, it’s been going on for weeks and I never even noticed it.

So. What do you think? Am I being irrational? Should I just turn a blind eye? Or give them permission to carry on? Or threaten if they ever do it again (I can call my stay-at-home neighbor for a report) I will call the, um, police? Trash company? Public works? Dunno.

2

I’d personally be pissed, because my house is on a plan where we only get one “free” can per week. An extra can without a garbage sticker (which I have to buy separately) on it would be left unemptied, so my garbage would probably be left behind, full.

What they’re doing is inappropriate - they’re mooching off of neighbors to haul away the trash. The people in the house that’s being renovated might not even know; this might be their contractors doing it.

3

How else can they dispose of their chromium 6??

Jeez!

4

What is your trash payment situation? As Ferret Herder said, some places charge you by the can (obviously not your area). In my area, we have to pay like $13/mo for unlimited trash. Some places it’s just part of your taxes and you never think about it.

If it were my area I’d be pissed because I am paying for trash, why not these jerks?

If I was in an area where the cost of trash pickup is just part of taxes…well actually this would not happen in an area where the cost is part of taxes. I’d suspect the people doing the dumping could just put their trash out just like everyone else. But it’d still be not cool in this situation.

You have the right to be mad, IMHO. Especially if they are mooching off you having paid a trash bill.

5

Where I live, we get something like a 5 bag maximum. I usually only put out 1, and on rare occasions 2.

If someone else wanted to add a few to my 1 or 2 so that they didn’t go over their maximum it wouldn’t bother me in the least.

I’d rather have that happen then have them drive down a back road and dump the stuff at the side of the road, which I’ve seen on occasion.

I don’t get what the big deal is. The garbage gets picked up. It doesn’t impact your life or cost you anything extra. It’s not dumped on the road. Non-issue for me.

6

I’d be annoyed. Mostly by the fact that they didn’t have the courtesy to ask first.

7

Once in a while, for a little trash, it wouldn’t bother me.
But 3 cans, to at least 6 houses, week after week?
Put a crowbar in your wallet and pay for your own garbage hauling!
I think you did about right. If they want their cans back, they can look you in the face and ask for it.
If you know your neighbors well, I’d be tempted to talk to them and let them know. Then next week, I’d ask permission from your neighbors to pull in their “extra” garbage cans as well. See if losing 18 garbage cans gets anyone’s attention.

8

I would get really annoyed. They’re doing it because they don’t want to cart it to the dump themselves and pay the fee. I’d actually probably try and confront them about it, or call the city.

9

If the strange containers are easily identified, I think that I’d go around to all my neighbors and ask if you can store those bins that don’t belong. Lock them ALL up.

Somebody is trying to get out of paying trash collection fees. Make them hurt.

10

I agree it sounds like somebody is trying to freeload on your collection service. I’d be pissed too. I think keeping the cans is a good idea. If they want them back, tell them you’ll sell them back for 50 bucks each.

11

I work for a refuse service, among other things, and if we picked them up, you would be seeing the resulting increase on your bill, either on your special assessments section of your property taxes, or on your quarterly bill, depending.

It could be listed as a special pickup and charge, or as a total increase from 1-4 carts, meaning you could see a quadruple increase…

It would depend on what the crews reported.

12

Here, that would be a big no no. Residential trash pick up is paid for with your sewer/water bill and should only be typical household waste. Commercial businesses pay a separate rate that is considerably higher. When we remodeled the house, we had to pay for an extra roll off bin for the remodeling debris. Someone may be trying to avoid those extra dump fees.

13

If they do come, don’t give them back their cans. They were obviously a gift, they were left on your property. If they insist, ask for proof of ownership–then have them arrested of trespassing. :stuck_out_tongue:

14

My guess is that they’re not going to say anything. And in that case, try to collect more of their cans from the neighbors’ houses until they do say something.

15

The construction guys are being sneaky, and probably illegal, by trying to pawn off their construction debris on residential homeowners (usually construction debris is not allowed). Call the city/town (I assume you have municipal pick-up, because you’re not paying by the can/bag) and give them a heads-up. If you happen to notice anyone picking up the cans, take down whatever info you can.
If it was one guy remodeling his bathroom, and sneaking a couple cans of debris, once, I wouldn’t really care, but professionals shouldn’t be doing this every week. Blow the whistle.

16

Actually, it can. My trash pickup is included in my taxes. However, it doesn’t include construction debris. If I hire a contractor to work on my house, the contractor is suposed to rent a dumpster or otherwise remove the debris. A limited amount of waste from DIY projects will be picked up ( I think it’s six bags). It’s not unheard of for a contractor to put 3 bags in front of this house and four in front of another, etc to avoid paying for trash removal.

17

I would grab each and every trash can. Wash rinse and repeat as necessary.

18

Yes, it’s a big deal because of the large amount and the repeated abuse.

A one time situation of a passing motorist dumping his car litter bag is one thing, this is another.

19

Last place we lived, we paid $30/quarter for trash pickup. Our neighbor apparently couldn’t swing such a steep amount, although she always seemed to have money for cigarettes and beer. Because of our working hours, we had no idea till I came home sick one day and saw a box in our driveway with a picture of the brand new patio set she had on her porch. My husband spoke to her and as far as I know, she never did it again. But it pissed me off. She could have taken her trash to the dump for free if the $10/month was too much. Nope, easier to stick it in our yard.

So, yeah, I’d have taken the cans and waited for them to come ask for them back. Big wheeled cans are not cheap…

20

Part of what the remodelling homeowner is paying for is removal of the debris. I’d make a stink.

StG