I asked this question on Instagram a while back and I was genuinely interested in the answer people gave.
Setting
I set my county-collected waste bins (trash, recyclables, yard waste) out on the curb on Monday nights. I collect them Tuesday evening after I get home from work. I noticed one day there was a takeout coffee cup in my trash bin and a wine can in my recycling bin.
My Take
I found this a little humorous- like someone had coffee to energize them on the way home and then some wine to start their evening off right! I imagined someone that was going on a 2-day break from work and/or out for a fun evening that night!
My Friend's Take
When I told my friend that I had come home and there were a couple of surprises in my waste bins, his reaction was totally different than mine. He was upset. His take was that the bins are my property and I pay for that service every month, and therefore no one has the right to do that.
I found his reaction interesting, because it was the complete opposite of mine. Personally, not only did I find humor in it all, but I was also pleased that the person took time to use the bins properly. If you note in my question on Instagram, I made sure to include that the bins were used properly and I also wanted to take away specifics in the situation. My friend's reaction was without any knowledge of what the stranger had left in my bins; he had no idea how much or what was put in the bins, and I found that even more peculiar since he never asked either.
The Results
The results were almost split, with slightly more people saying they wouldn't be upset, which I was happy to see, but I was still surprised at how many people were upset. I didn't take down the total number of voters, but I believe it was around 50 people.
I did receive some messages in my DMs and all of the messages were about why they voted "yes" that it would bother them. All of these people had some personal and bad experiences where strangers had wrongfully used their bins.
One person told me that someone during the holidays had an overflowing amount of Amazon boxes and just put them all in their bins and there were so many that they were all over the street.
Another person told me that a person left really stinky trash in their bin and in the city they live in they are not allowed to leave their bins outside, so they had to store the stinky trash in their garage for a week, and it stunk up their garage.
Someone else told me that it looked like the strangers had moved and they just left all of their boxes and supplies in their bins. The bins were so full that they couldn't throw any of their own waste in them.
So, yes, obviously, there are scenarios that seem unpleasant and I'm sure that the people who voted "yes" had these types of situations in their mind as they hit that button. But that's human nature! Our experiences, our past, our history drives us in the decisions we make and the stances we take. I personally have not had experiences like that and I also see trash all around my city daily, and I was more relieved to see that someone took the time to use (my) bins correctly then to throw them on the ground.
I leave you with the last part of my Instagram story that gave my conclusion to the whole question. (The rest of the story was the summary of this blog post.) Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments regarding this situation/topic. I would be most interested in hearing them.
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