How to stop strangers from using or stealing your trash cans
Strangers treat accessible bins as public dumping grounds for dog waste, bulk trash, and general litter, which leaves homeowners dealing with foul odors and property misuse. Failing to secure containers can also lead to them being entirely stolen from the curb within minutes.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1keeping trash cans inside or in the back
- 2storing trash cans in locked sheds
- 3paying for weekly community litter pickup
- 4cleaning property frontage regularly
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“an open trashcan is an invitation for people to do things that they otherwise wouldn't have been able to do, and you're going to bear the burden.”source ↗
“My neighbor left her new trashcan out and it was stolen in about 20 minutes.”source ↗
“The few times I've forgotten to bring it in people have put bags of dog poop and stuff like that in it which smells.”source ↗
Where this came up
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