I rent a townhouse right in the middle of a row owned by one landlord. Every Thursday morning, trash and recycling go out to the curb. Though trash pickup doesn’t have many rules beyond “nothing unsafe and don’t overfill your bin,” recycling has a lot of rules. Everything must be rinsed out and the labels removed, no pizza boxes or takeout containers, no glass, and nothing can be in bags.
I put my bins out one week and, upon return that evening, saw that my recycling was not emptied. I opened the lid to see that someone had dropped a bag of glass bottles in my bin. I pulled it out, but since it was just a bunch of beer bottles, I had no way to know who did it. So I put it in my trash can and moved on.
Two days later, my landlord came by.
Landlord: “This is for you.”
He hands me a previously opened envelope from the township.
Me: “This is addressed to you.”
Landlord: “It’s for you.”
Me: *Opening the envelope.* “A citation? For what?”
Landlord: “For the glass bottles in your recycling bin. You know they’re not allowed.”
Me: “Someone put it in there after I put it all out for pickup. I don’t even drink.”
Landlord: “Who?”
Me: “I don’t know. I was at work all day.”
Landlord: *Clearly not believing me.* “Okay, well, if you see who did it, tell them not to do it again. Make sure you pay that citation on time.”
I paid the citation just to avoid conflict. The next week I put my bins out again and once again when I got home, my recycling bin was full, and another bag of glass bottles was inside. I called my landlord.
Landlord: “Yes?”
Me: “Someone put another bag of bottles in my recycling bin. Something has to be done.”
Landlord: “Unless you can prove it wasn’t you, you’re responsible for what is in that bin. I assume this will be another citation. I’ll see you soon.”
Yup, I paid the next citation too.
The week after, I put the bins out and took the day off. Just before the trucks would have been there, two boys (maybe seventeen years old) emerged from one of the townhouses to my left. I saw them carrying a bag just like the two that had been dumped in my bin, so I started recording.
They walked up to my recycling bin and lifted the lid. [Boy #1] stopped and pointed to my car, saying something I couldn’t catch. [Boy #2] shrugged and put the bag in before they both walked away. Once they were back in their house, I removed the bag and put it in their recycling bin.
Then I watched the truck come down the road. One of the collectors jumped off the truck, saw the bag of glass in their recycling bin, and moved on, including picking up my recycling at last.
I sent the video to my landlord and asked him to address it with the residents.
A few days later, there was a check taped on my front door for the value of both citations and an apology note. I never heard from the other people or my landlord directly, but I never had a bag of glass or anything else dumped in my recycling bin either!