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Garbage Pickers...really??

post #1 of 17
7/6/11 at 9:42pm
Thread Starter 
I have no problem with garbage pickers. Goodness knows that people throw out a lot of stuff that is usable, or able to be repaired or repurposed. Good for them that they are willing to be industrious like that. Better than nothing, right?

But today was a different story.

For the litterbox downstairs that isn't used all that much I bag the scooped litter and put it in one of the 37 lb. Tidy Cats buckets until it gets full and then take the whole stinky bucket out with the trash. It isn't bad unless you open the top.

I took the full, and I mean full, bucket out with the trash last night. Even the quickest flip of the lid to get the bag inside was bad.

I went out to the car this morning and the bucket was gone! Then I saw that they emptied the bags of litter scoops on top of my trash (the odor wafted with the wind ) and took the Tidy Cats bucket! That thing stinks!

Buying a new bucket at Lowes or The Home Depot isn't more than a few bucks. We recently got one.

I cannot imagine that anyone needs a bucket that badly to take one that has had icky litter fermenting in it for a month!
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post #2 of 17
7/6/11 at 10:22pm
Another person's trash is another one's treasure. Maybe they were collecting it for recycling? Maybe they were going to wash it out and use it as a diaper pail? Or maybe they were going wash it out and use it as an ice bucket.

Who knows.
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post #3 of 17
7/7/11 at 4:56am
What gets me is that they dumped the litter bags on top of your other garbage. For cryin' out loud. They must have needed that Tidy Cats bucket badly!
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post #4 of 17
7/7/11 at 5:00am
Goodness, I'd say they needed it badly
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post #5 of 17
7/7/11 at 7:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Natalie_ca View Post
Another person's trash is another one's treasure. Maybe they were collecting it for recycling? Maybe they were going to wash it out and use it as a diaper pail? Or maybe they were going wash it out and use it as an ice bucket.

Who knows.
Ice bucket????????
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post #6 of 17
7/7/11 at 7:12am
I don't think even bleach would make that bucket useful for anything else (well maybe except a portable toilet).

At least they stuck the contents on top of your trash instead of just dumping them onto the ground, lawn, etc. I know garbage pickers that cause a mess while looking for whatever they want.
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post #7 of 17
7/7/11 at 3:09pm
Gross. We go out and garbage pick quite often, lol, mostly when the students are moving out and at apartment buildings at the end of the month - you can find A LOT of good stuff. We've gotten quite a few computers, a very nice CD rack, a vacuum, amplifiers, records, CDs, record players, cables for guitars and electronics, lamps, an aquarium, a Tassimo coffee maker thing, and the one thing we find the most... MONEY. Usually, when we go we find at least $20 - either in Canadian money or foreign money that we have exchanged. We also pick up empties from the recycling - we have a few people that will leave them on their porches or by their doors for us to come get. We do it weekly in our neighbourhood and usually get between $15-50. We do fix and then sell quite a bit of what we find, if it's broken. Sometimes we'll go out behind WalMart late at night and go in their dumpsters - they throw out the things that people have returned, that's how we got our last microwave, lol.

I can't believe that someone would do what they did with you though. There are some "unwritten" rules when you pick garbage - you don't make a mess - and if you do you clean it up, you don't rip open bags - you open them neatly and tie them back up when you're done. People that don't respect those two main things are the ones that ruin it for everyone else.
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post #8 of 17
7/7/11 at 3:24pm
Since I live in an apartment I share a large dumpster with my neighbors. The landlord had to put a lock on it because dumpster divers were throwing trash every where while they searched for stuff. That included dirty litter and empty cans of cat food along with everything else; which started attracting bugs and rodents.
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post #9 of 17
7/7/11 at 5:29pm
Ok, that is over the top! I can't BEGIN to imagine what someone wants with that bucket!
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post #10 of 17
7/7/11 at 5:42pm
ew. Just.. ew.
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post #11 of 17
7/7/11 at 9:01pm
Whenever I have extra litter buckets, I put them out by the garbage cans and they're always taken within a day or 2. I guess people really like that size of bucket. I've run out of things to use them for. But they're clean. . .one with used litter in it is gross! They'll never get the smell out.
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post #12 of 17
7/7/11 at 9:21pm
You would be surprised at what those plastic contains can be used for. We use them constantly for storage for ice melt, fertilizer, etc. DH uses them to mix up small amounts of concrete when he needs it to patch things. They don't cost that much in the store but if there is one for free sitting with the garbage then it saves a few bucks.

The person really should have disposed of the contents on his own property instead of dumping it in your garbage can!! That is just plain rude, not to mention nasty!! I don't know about you, but our garbage collection has a weight limit for what they have to dispose of (I think it's 50 or 60 lbs per bag or can). If it weights more than that they let it sit. So if your can weighted around that and they dumped another 30-40 lbs, then they would let it sit and you would have to dig through all that and take the actual garbage out. GROSS!
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post #13 of 17
7/9/11 at 6:52pm
We got through alot of food grade pails with lids at work. We wash and set in the lobby for a $1 donation to the local food pantry. We have a waiting list now for pails! But that is pretty nervy.
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post #14 of 17
7/9/11 at 7:25pm
Thread Starter 
When we lived in the last apartment complex there were a few times when we took advantage of someone moving or throwing out something we could use. Heck, I got a really nice carrier that way! (Washed out with bleach, of course.) When we moved we made a point of leaving the good stuff (that someone else could use/repair) outside of the dumpster so no one would have to dive into those huge bins. So like I said...I really don't have any issue with garbage pickers. Better than ending up in a landfill, right?

I know how useful the buckets are for any number of things. But with that stench??? I can't imagine anything good coming from that bucket ever again!
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post #15 of 17
7/9/11 at 7:39pm
I can see the benefit as a form of recycling, but wouldn't that be illegal? My garbage can is left on the edge of my property per HOA rules, and only the garbage company has been given consent to pick it up.

I'd be rather angry if someone made a mess, and I would be very concerned they might be digging for personal information to perform identity theft and generally consider it a violation of my privacy (I would imagine you could learn quite a bit about a person if you went through their trash every week).
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post #16 of 17
7/10/11 at 2:52am
We live next to two university towns (Bucknell University and Susquehanna University) and when the students leave at the end of the year, there are a lot of people who go through their trash. It's unbelievable what some of those kids will throw away. Things that are in excellent condition and may have cost their parents a small fortune are tossed with no thought.
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post #17 of 17
7/10/11 at 4:18pm
OMG!!!!! The smell in that bucket, WHO would want that..... I use those Tidy Cat buckets too for litter duty, and man does it soak into the plastic inside, the odor..... Very wierd
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