A quick tour through the alleys of my neighborhood reveals a number of Dumpsters bearing a sticker warning “no dumping, $500 fine.” I assume that dumping, in this context, refers to the placement of waste in these recepticles by anyone other than the person or entity renting the Dumpster. Now, much as I’m sure they would like to believe otherwise, the Waste Management Corporation is not empowered to fine people for these violations; we actually have to be found guilty in a court of law. So, is there actually a law against using someone else’s Dumpster, and what are the actual penalties, or is this just bluster on the part of WM?
I’m sure the law is similar in other places, too, but in Texas:
Well, technically you’re stealing, in that the store that rents the dumpster is paying the Waste Management people to haul away their trash by volume, ie dumpster load. If you put your trash in Random Store’s dumpster, you’re getting the store to pay to have your trash hauled away. But I doubt that’s what they’re thinking of with the signs.
Years ago, my brother hosted a party at the house while my parents were away. He carefully cleaned up afterwards and took the trash bags to a nearby grocery store to dispose of the “evidence”. Somehow, the refuse company which owned the dumpster was able to get his name and about a month later, sent him a bill for $100 for “waste removal”. He never paid it, and it was never pursued by the company or the store. Based on the contents of the trashbag, perhaps he made it through a “boys will be boys” loophole of an illegal dumping/ theft of services law.
In the absence of any criminal law, I believe you would be committing a civil tort, probably conversion if I had to guess (since your waste is interfering with the property rights of the person owning or renting the Dumpster).
IANAL, etc.
It’s “theft of services”…
http://www.ithaca.edu/remp/recycling.htm
…a.k.a. “stealing”…
http://www.wasteage.com/mag/waste_business_management_stopping/
…which last time I looked was prosecutable under the criminal code.
DDG: What State are those laws in? Are they part of the Uniform Penal Code?
Possibly tresspassing, too?
There might be contractual limits between the hauler and the business about the sorts of things that can be tossed. When the hauler brings the garbage into the transfer station or disposal facility, the hauler, and therefore the customer, are on the hook if there is “unacceptable” solid waste in the load; i.e., medical waste, air conditioners, paint, etc. They don’t want to pay for disposal of your crap, so to speak.
We’ve caught people dumping any and everthing imaginable into the dumpster at the fire station. The oddest part is that they become indignant, saying “I pay taxes to support this outfit” and in their minds that justifies dumping stuff in our can that they can’t put out at the curb. Go figure. :rolleyes:
A police office actually caught my father putting stuff into a Dumpster and wrote him a ticket on the spot for illegal dumping. As the officer explained it (very nicely) there were several reasons for making it a municipal ordinance:
Theft of services – the business has to pay for the removal of trash
The dump has restrictions about what can and can’t be dumped. The dump tells the Dumpster companies, who tell their customers. For all the police officer knew, my father could have been dumping nuclear waste.
The businesses in town really didn’t want people hanging around their back doors, whether or not they were carrying trash. Strictly speaking, the shopping mall was private property, although it was patrolled by the local police.
In the City of St. Louis, trash collection is a municipal activity and the waste receptacles are provided by the city. I’m guessing the city can impose just about any kind of restriction they want.
My father had to pay the fine, but no, they didn’t make him pick up the garbage.
In my town in Texas, you are perfectly free to dump your trash in any dumpster in town. If yours is full, you are free to dump it in the dumpster next door. Or across town. Or behind my office – we have three dumpsters and they are the most used dumpsters in town.
“Kid, we found your name on an envelope at the bottom of a half a ton of garbage, and just wanted to know if you had any information about it.”
And I said, “Yes, sir, Officer Obie, I cannot tell a lie, I put that envelope under that garbage.”
Moral of the story: If you’re going to put your trash in somebody else’s dumpster, be sure to remove any items that could identify you.
About 30 years ago, I lived in circumstances where I didn’t have convenient or free garbage disposal. I found several businesses in the “warehouse district” with unlocked dumpsters behind them, and for 10 years that’s where I took all my anonymized trash. I never got caught.
Are you certain of this - and how is trash disposal paid for? If each household/business pays for its own dumpster/trash removal service, I can’t see how you could be “perfectly free” to use the dumpster someone else is paying for - assuming that by “perfectly free” you mean legal and not simply that you won’t get caught or nothing will be done. In fact, although residential pickup in my city is paid for via taxes ( rather than individual households paying for a dumpster or per bag, etc) it is a violation of the city’s administrative code to use someone else’s trash receptacles or place garbage in front of someone else’s property without that persons permission. Which makes sense - if someone puts a bag of garbage that also contains recycling materials or a unwrapped mattress in from of my house , I’m going to get the ticket and it would make no sense for it to be perfectly legal to dump that stuff in my cans or in front of my house making me liable for the ticket.
Duck_Duck_Goose has it correct, it is Theft of Services. You are stealing a service that you are not paying for. It is as simple as that.
You might want to go back and read the first response to this thread from 2004. Your town may look the other way on trash disposal, but it’s not the law in Texas, nor in most all states.
How is it theft of services if the business has trash cans for the public to use?
They take the trash from the can the dumpster, after all.
How can someone steal a service that the business offers for free?
The question was not whether it’s okay to put items of trash into a trash can provided by a business for the convenience of its customers (or the general public who happens to be walking by), it’s whether it’s legal to put them into a dumpster that the business has contracted for its own use and put in a place that is not generally accessible to its customers.
I don’t walk into a fast food joint and help myself to all their straws, napkins, and little ketchup packets even though they’re out in the open, either.
That doesn’t answer my question tho.
The business places receptacle A for customers to dispose of trash. The business takes that trash to their dumpster B.
What services are being stolen by someone who places their trash directly into dumpster B?
It’s possibly trespassing. A receptacle by the door or the drive-thru is obviously for customer use. A dumpster by the loading dock, or in a fenced enclosure is not. The former are public areas, the latter are not.