Ever pick through someone's weekly trash?

[goeduck]

Bacon and meat grease and gel gets sopped up by used paper towels and goes along with kitchen scraps, bones, coffee grounds, fireplace ash, etc. to the transfer station. There I dump it in the huge yard waste container per instructions. Paper, plastics, cans etc. goes in a separate container. Cardboard goes in to its own container. All free except for the cost of fuel to get there (10miles)

Garbage and wood scraps are pay to dispose. We manage one 32 gallon can of garbage about every 5 or 6 weeks, even then it is not full. Cost is $5. Garbage is mostly styrofoam from incoming packaging. Wood scraps that are painted or treated I keep.

I have to get my composting going again for planting soil.

 

[ultrarunner]

In Washington we can arrange for garbage service but that means hauling out to the road... sometimes a problem for tenants as it is too far to tote several containers.

In California, Waste Management has things sewn up pretty tight... they get paid no matter what by having the city place a lien for unpaid balances and fees.

 

[sixdogs]

We live in an a very religious area where quietly helping the disadvantaged is a strong belief. While I may pick through the trash of others elsewhere, I put lots of usable things out by the road here for others that need to take. It's a complex belief that I share and also don't want to tick off the people around here so that's what we do. I occasionally get a handwritten thank you note on the ground, most recently from an old guy after I left a half cord of old but perfectly good cut and split firewood that I wanted gone.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

In Washington we can arrange for garbage service but that means hauling out to the road... sometimes a problem for tenants as it is too far to tote several containers.

That's why landlords up here have to bring in a 40 yd container after a move out. Several friends have several rentals in low cost areas and they have had the garage and/or back yard full of garbage and trash. Tenants never take cans out to the street.

Ron

 

[4570Man]

I drive by my rental property often. I’d never stand for large quantities of trash piled up. And I’d keep their security deposit for having to fix a big mess left behind.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Kind of reminds me of the aboriginals that are "supposed" to be so environmentally conscious but man-made garbage just doesn't seem to show up on their radar.

A derelict F150 sitting on blocks seems to be a perfect part of nature.

But who am I to say? I just got here!

If I see as much as a fortune cookie message lying on our 100 acres (yes strangely I found that) I have to stop and pick it up. But then I guess I'm just not very in tune with nature.

 

[ultrarunner]

That's why landlords up here have to bring in a 40 yd container after a move out. Several friends have several rentals in low cost areas and they have had the garage and/or back yard full of garbage and trash. Tenants never take cans out to the street.

Ron

Yes... I did a deep clean a few tenants ago... paid to haul out a lot that was left behind and did recover from the deposit and collections... took some time for the latter.

Where I run into trouble is not being there between tenants... had a family move and I was packed and ready to head North at 4 am... the regular time I get up for work...

Property manager calls and said the home is rented... which is great but I really need to spend at least a few days to make sure everything is up to par and note any deficiencies.

The last time I was up... the house was fine... a few things but OK... property manager said how nice it was left... BUT I walked out behind the barn and it was a dump... truck load of old asphalt shingles dumped... broken toys, tires, etc... call the property manager and she said she never thought to look behind the barn... home is on 17 acres and no access unless coming down the drive... at this point I can't prove anything because I only know how it was prior to the last tenant and not the one that just vacated.

Coming home tonight in the SF Bay Area one of the things that strikes me is just how much trash is purposely dumped and often without shame... from opening a window and tossing out the Happy Meal wrappers to backing up the truck and dumping the entire bed full or trash in a parking lot or on the shoulder of the road...

If I were a sociologist... I bet I could find a simple correlation tied to crime and everything else simply by how a populace deals with dumping... I've got two large semi tires someone rolled into Mom's creek in the last week... now got to figure how to get them properly disposed of...

Last year outside a Chinese take out I saw a group of Medical Assisting students because they all had on scrubs with the nearby school name... they opened the car doors on both sides and dumped all the take out boxes in the parking lot and drove off...

I called the dean of the school identified myself and related what I had seen... following by saying that image will always stick with me and when students from that school apply at the Hospital... it will be hard to get past.

She thanked me profusely and said she would deal with it... never saw a repeat... one of the students said the school said when you wear the uniform you represent not only the school but everyone that wears the uniform... maybe in a small way I had a little influence?

 

[Bird]

I guess we're lucky compared to many. The city pays the garbage collection company instead of us getting a bill. Instead, our water bill includes an amount (currently $8.42) each month for garbage collection. We used to have Waste Management, but a couple of years ago, Community Waste Disposal under bid Waste Management. WM provided their own container for recyclables, but CWD provides an even bigger one. Recycling is voluntary, and all recyclable material goes in the same container. We usually have to put our recycling bin out once every 2 weeks. Of course the garbage collection is once a week. We can put our garbage out in any kind of container we want; some have their own big garbage cans, some have small cans, and some, such as us, just put it in plastic bags. Brush and limbs are to be tied in 4' bundles, and there's supposed to be a weekly limit on the number of cans or bags, but they never pay any attention to that; just take whatever is there.

 

[Einthewoods]

I guess we're lucky compared to many. The city pays the garbage collection company instead of us getting a bill. Instead, our water bill includes an amount (currently $8.42) each month for garbage collection. We used to have Waste Management, but a couple of years ago, Community Waste Disposal under bid Waste Management. WM provided their own container for recyclables, but CWD provides an even bigger one. Recycling is voluntary, and all recyclable material goes in the same container. We usually have to put our recycling bin out once every 2 weeks. Of course the garbage collection is once a week. We can put our garbage out in any kind of container we want; some have their own big garbage cans, some have small cans, and some, such as us, just put it in plastic bags. Brush and limbs are to be tied in 4' bundles, and there's supposed to be a weekly limit on the number of cans or bags, but they never pay any attention to that; just take whatever is there.

In my township, garbage collection is part of your property taxes so we get a similar inexpensive rate. They do not offer recycling so you have to take it to a central recycling center. I made a nice bin rack for collecting/separating out our recycling which makes it easy as can be. We just have to remember to put the bins in the car when we head to town.

 

[oosik]

My garbage is handled by a private refuse company. I guess I'm just lucky to have it collected by anybody. The first 15 to 20 years out here nobody collected it. So I burned it and landfilled the ash. That was OK until one day the burn barrel exploded and started a grass fire. Luckily I ALWAYS kept a "live" garden hose at the burn barrel. Took all my efforts to put it out. That's when I started having my garbage collected.

In town, where my son lives, they have separation - three bins. Out here everything goes into the same bin. I have mine picked up once a month.