News of the (recycling) weird

[JerrySpringer]

I have a recyclables bin at work. I know I'd be in some hot water, or at least have the embarrassment factor, if I did this there:

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/ ... t_440.html


I don't think what the mayor did was bad. To me, the streets and its trash bins are sort of public domain. Of course, the law says different.

[psi]

I think the rationale for rules like this is often that the profitable recycling activities offset the costs of waste disposal and other types of recycling that may not be profitable. I would not load up on cans from recycling bins to scrap but I have been known to take coffee cans the odd time to store coins etc. Anything not in a recycling bin is fair game here though as far as I know. There is one guy around here who goes through recycling bins but I think he is regarded as sort of a harmless kook so nobody really cares.

[Mossy]

No, there's some laws about garbage bins, resulting from people retrieving mail, trade secrets, etc from business trash bins. ID theft, intercompany spying, etc. I think the laws are impractical, especially considering how cheap shredders are, but they are around.

"Recycle bins", I'm not surprised they are considered special this way. Stuff loose on the curb on large item pickup day? I cannot see special laws.

[NHsorter]

I just read it really quickly, but I think it said that it was his 2nd offense? What an idiot. He is the Mayor of the town and he gets caught taking bottles. After the first time, he no longer has the ignorance excuse (which is a weak excuse anyway) And then he is dumb enough to get caught a second time.

[psi]

Turns out my municipality actually does ban people from taking anything put out for garbage collection. I guess the safest bet is to knock on the door and ask if you can take the item. I'm not sure if this is ever enforced but I'm certain it's broken very frequently by a lot of people. Any expectation of privacy with your garbage is an illusion anyway, at my house anything with personal information goes into the fireplace.

[cesariojpn]

Wait, doesn't a federal court ruling automatically trumps the village rule? Something like "if it's on the curb, it's public property considering the items have been "abandoned."

[theirrationalist]

Wait, doesn't a federal court ruling automatically trumps the village rule? Something like "if it's on the curb, it's public property considering the items have been "abandoned."

State and local governments can pass legeislation that become "added on" to federal laws. Because there is no explicit federal law that governs the collection of curbside garbage, state and local governments can pass any law regarding it, so long as it doesn't interfere with any other federal laws.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supremacy_Clause

[wpd7]

Check your local laws, but in general, if it's not secured and not on private property, it's fair game.

A bit embarrassing though to be caught for "stealing."