Sometimes, I'm startled when I hear people going through my trash in the middle of the night. But when I realize what they're doing, it doesn't bother me.

It doesn't bother me at all as long as they don't make a mess, good luck to them.

There's no simple solution to this problem. I separate returnables to try to limit trash bags being ripped open. I've seen a van leave and pick-up people after they gather bottles on a street. It is unsettling to have someone with a head lamp digging through your trash bag.

While I can empathise with a person trying to scrape together all those nickles, in my house we do recycle and bring those redeemable bottles & cans to the redemption center. My aunt used to hang a grocery bag from her front fence with the redeemable bottles & cans in it so the person wouldn't have to dig through the trash. I don't mind if it's out on the street but there is a woman who comes down our street and will go into your fenced in yard or up on your porch to dig through the trash cans or recycle bins. That is crossing a line IMO. It does bother (and scare) my teenager though who often times is taking out the trash to the curb and will sometimes run into the woman digging through stuff. I politely tell her we don't have anything and she moves on to the next house.

I HARDLY consider myself a liberal, but those folks who resort to this must be in a REAL bad way. As long as no trespassing occurs and a mess isn't left, I see no harm in this. Most of the ones I have witnessed are friendly and pick-up after themselves anyway, so no harm done in my experiences with them.

Marjorie Pearlstein,
I am in agreement with Daniel. Things are hard for everyone these days and getting worse. I meet these people while walking my dog and they are always respectful and friendly. It's really not hard to be kind and generous to others. Please try.

I give these folks credit for at least working to make a nickel vs the lazy folks begging for change at traffic lights. However, I don't appreciate them going through my fence to get my recyclables Thursday through Monday.

Well said, Daniel and Marjorie. This cannot be an easy thing to do. The least we can be is gracious to our neighbors who are less fortunate.

I need to offer a different perspective here. Although I don't mind people going through my recycling for bottles and cans, they need to wait until I put the recycling out to do so. Coming back behind my house is an invasion of my privacy. Several months ago my place was robbed; the thief broke one of our windows near where we keep the recycling. I do not mean to imply that the people who look for bottles were the thieves, but I don't want my neighbors to become used to seeing people go behind my house or used to the sounds of breaking glass behind my house, assuming it's just someone going through the recycling.

I have seen gangs of 2-3 people with shopping carts taking WHOLE BAGS of trash (the blue bags). I assume they are looking for more than just bottles and cans when they do this and probably are seeking ways to use identity theft.(or maybe they are dumping the trash and reusing the bags) As for someone just going through recyclable bins, that's fine as the recycle truck doesn't pick up in my neighborhood until most of the trash has blown away. PAYT has done so much to harm and dirty this city than it will ever do for the environment . Good riddance Mayor Howard!!

Yes, initially it feels like invasion of privacy, but then I realize that the person is simply trying to make a living and I sort-of rationalize it, but I worry that my garbage will be spilled all over the sidewalk. The comments here, however, make me think about identity theft; perhaps it is time for a shredder!

I don't care if the "canners" go through our trash so long as its not the person who woke me up two weeks ago at 3 am. Have some deceny and let ppl sleep.

I've seen two types of people doing this. There is the older lady that comes every week and goes through the recycling bin, I have no problem with her b/c she is looking for things to redeem for money...great. What I do have a problem with is that creepy white van that comes by and who I've watched rip open and dig through trash bags (without gloves) looking for I don't know what and leaving a mess. Those people are not looking for cans, they seem to be looking for something else (which thankfully they did not find the night I watched them going through my trash). I have a problem with them.

It's called a paper shredder folks. Invest $40 in one and you won't have to worry about people going through your trash. I agree with Kristi - if someone is worse enough off that they need to scour through my trash, I'm all for them making a few bucks. Plus if it's on the street, it's not your property anymore. If you have a problem with it wait until the morning to put it out.

Going through the comments, it seems that people don't seem to mind so much people gathering empty bottles and cans for a nickel, but there is a thin line between taking the bottles/cans and then invading another person's privacy/home. Does anyone have an answer to how to alleviate this problem?

Also interesting that the comments reflect the second poll answer: No. I'm glad someone is able to turn those cans and bottles into money. However, the first answer (Yes. A person going through my trash makes me uncomfortable, and identity theft is a possibility.) is leading the poll? Does anyone who voted for the first answer want to chime in with some specifics about why they voted this way?

I used to think it was okay for the few bottles/cans that hit the recycling bin every couple of weeks to be picked up by someone who was willing to return them. However, the line is now being crossed because there are a lot of people now doing this and they are getting bold by coming up on my private property to go through the barrel before it's put on the sidewalk on recycling day. It bothered me to come out of my house and find someone standing there in my yard going through my trash and they didn't say a word, apologize or anything. It wasn't until I asked them to leave that they did but they left everything they had pulled out of the barrel on the lawn.
And to be safe, we did invest in a shredder. The thought of identify theft did worry us, so now we just shred as we go. It's also easier to just dump the bucket into the recylcing.

How about shopping carts rattling through the narrow streets at 2 AM, followed by periodic stops and clanking around in the trash hunting for redeemables, then "moving on" to next door and repeating the rattling cart "symphony" followed by the "percussion" section of the cans and bottles banging around? All of those people who are feeling so sorry for the canners perhaps ought to just reach into their pockets and give them some money. Also, people could redeem their own cans and bottles thereby eliminating the source.

I guess all those years working in the good old USA and CONTRIBUTING collecting Social security for that work just isnt cutting it for them!!! But im sure they pay their quarterly taxes, so its alright, no? Some "lady" use to go into the yard and rifle thru the barrels and bags , once my brother in law started to dump a mop bucket full of filthy water on them when ever they crossed the property line, they started wearing a rain coat! BEAT IT!

I'm against them making a mess and coming onto my property (aka trespassing) to take something that's not yet open for the taking. And Kimberly is completely correct. When you get used to hearing noises in the night and assume it's someone "canning" (there's really a word for this now??) or when your neighbors see people and assume the same it makes for an unsafe atmosphere.

As a sidenote, a neighbor of mine a few years back repeatedly warned the neighborhood "canner" to not come into his back yard. The canner continued to do it anyway and my neighbor used a garden hose on the person. That person came back 10 mins later with the police who then warned my neighbor to not do that again! WTH??

My for sale sign is still swinging in the breeze...

Aaron,

Your neighbor should have called the police, after issuing those warnings to the "canner", that guy was trespassing on your neighbor's property, so he was completely on the wrong side of the law.

I agree with both you and Kimberly: we cannot have strangers come onto our properties, as they please, to go through our trash and recyclable items, before they are put out on the sidewalks. That is a complete violation of our privacy and against the law!

These people disgust me. They make a mess of the trash, never pick up the stuff they drop that their not taking. On top of it all they are picking thru trash with no gloves on, then you see them wiping their face, or in one case htere is on person in my neighborhood that is constantly picking at her nose while going thru the trash. These people are disease carrying misfits that should be banned from this practice. Panhandling is illegal, as should can pickers. Oh and someone should advise them how to use the sidewalks with their damn carriages, instead of motorists having to drive around them on the streets. Quality of life should prevail, not sorrow for someone to lazy to get a job?

All right, the "picking through trash without gloves on" complaints are hilarious. Are y'all worried that they're going to infect your trash? Personally, my quality of life is dependent upon being surrounded by people who know how to spell "too" and punctuate correctly and right this minute I'M BEIN' REPRESSED!!!

Seriously though, of course people shouldn't come on to your property, that's a given and you should call the cops. A question for people whose trash bags are being ripped open; are you using recycling bins as well? If so, that is disturbing. If not, try it.

Unless you have a "No Trespassing" sign clearly placed on your property the police can't do anything. We had a problem with someone coming into our fenced off yard & called the police who told us that posting a sign on the outside of the fence wasn't enough that we needed to place one inside the yard on the house??
There is a gentleman that "works" my neighborhood for the cans & bottles & he is a doll. He is very polite, comes aroung 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday evenings & doesn't make too much noise. Last year after a storm I shoveled a path in front of my house when I came home that Tuesday after work there he was making the path wider so I could move the big blue recycle bin with ease. Now when putting out trash I wait for him & give him all the cans & bottles I have.

John Q - what makes you think that canners are living in "elderly" housing? do you know who they are and which elderly housing they live in? Would you at least be willing to tell us which building they occupy?

By the way, the idea behind charging deposits for cans and bottles was to encourage recycling them rather than throwing them into the trash or onto the street or onto someone's lawn. If everyone returned their own cans and bottles, there would be none in the trash and the canners would have no point in looking there.

i make a ton of money garbage hunting i find plasma tvs that i fix cha ching i find vacums mowers weed wackers microwaves grills paintings toys furniture lamps fans dishes just last week i found a 50 inch plasma tv that just needed a ten cent wire so i fixed it and sold it for 250 dollars

Somebody picked my garbage trash up illegally, because none of my neighbors' garbage trash have picked up. Why? I called the garbage (waste management) about this problem, they said they did not know what happened. Also I called the police about this, and he is going to come over and make a report. He probably will tell me what to do. I don't really like somebody to trespass anything out of my garbage cans, because they're property of the waste management.