My husband and I have just moved to a different UK city, into my sister's house while she is abroad for a few years.
The lane that our front door is on, is the back lane for the houses that have their front doors on the streets parallel to that lane. All those houses leave their recycling and general waste wheelie bins out permanently on that lane (which is effectively their back alleyway), and we leave ours out there as well as there is nowhere else for us to put it. I hope that explains the layout well enough.
A few days ago I noticed someone had put an empty plastic milk bottle and an empty cardboard box of dog food in our recycling bin, which already had our recycling in, so was clearly now in use (my sister's house was empty for a couple of months between her moving out and us moving in). The bin is clearly marked with our house number. I mentioned it to my sister and she says that it sometimes happens but it didn't really affect her so she didn't do anything about it. It was just a couple of things, so, whatever. It's not a wealthy area, and she also suggested that maybe a neighbour couldn't afford to get a bin (I just looked on the council's website, looks like it's £21 charge and residents who receive Council Tax Support will receive a 50% discount).
Today I went to put our recycling out and there's a big, uncollapsed carboard box in there, with unrecyclable soft plastic inside, and with the name and address of a neighbour whose house backs onto our lane. The box takes up the remaining space in the bin and I'm unable to put my recycling in there. Having looked around and not finding a bin marked with their number, I decide to take the box out, leave it on the floor in the street (with the address visible!) and put our recycling into our bin.
I go inside and explain the situation to my husband. I tell him that I think I feel brave enough to go and talk to the neighbour, to say something inoffensive like 'oh I think this box was put in our bin by mistake'. He thinks this could be seen by the neighbour as petty and antagonistic, and could potentially start a war with them, and thinks it's a better idea just to leave it on the lane. I feel like I want the neighbour to know that we've noticed them put this huge thing in the bin and it's not on. I don't want to litter the lane. I'd talk to them in a reasonable, calm way, and if they respond unkindly then I'd leave it and not rise to it (I hate confrontation). AIBU to want to go and talk to the neighbour? Or maybe I'll just buy them a bin without telling them lol. My husband and I await your evaluation eagerly!