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.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1keeping trash cans inside or in the backDid this help you?
- 2storing trash cans in locked shedsDid this help you?
- 3paying for weekly community litter pickupDid this help you?
- 4cleaning property frontage regularlyDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, 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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