to dislike people going through my bins?

[Bartimaeus]

Bit of a weird one, and DH can't see why it bothers me, but we live in a flat in the centre of a large city. One big wheelie bin for about 20 flats, which is emptied every day (except Sundays).

Almost every day people come and rummage in our bins. I've seen dozens of different people doing it, all over the area I live in. They even open up black bin bags, which makes me uncomfortable although I'm not able to say exactly why, but it's partly because we obviously throw away stuff with our names and addresses on as well as other details.

Today I even had second thoughts about throwing away some old antibiotics, because I worried that someone might pick them up and take them.

We don't throw away anything of worth as we recycle and give away old clothes and shoes to charity shops, and we meal plan carefully so never throw away food.

So AIBU to dislike this? Or should I just feel sorry for the people who have to do this to get some money?

For what it's worth, the supermarket opposite us leaves edible food at the top of their bins, a) for people who need it and b) in the hope that people will stop strewing rubbish all over the place as they dig down into the bin.

I can understand going through supermarket bins for food but not individual people's bins for god knows what.

If your throwing documents etc with names and addresses on shred it your at risk of identity theft otherwise.

I think you should get a shredder and make sure anything with names, addresses, bank details etc is shredded before being binned.

YANBU but I'm not sure what you can do to stop people going through the bins.

I can understand your general dislike of this, so YANBU.

But why on earth are you throwing away stuff with your names, address and other details on it? Haven't you heard of ID theft?

You should never dispose of medication in the bins. Always take it back to the pharmacy.

As for anything with personal details on, shred it..

Leave something truly minging in the bin to deter them?

I knew you'd say shred it
We don't throw away bank documents etc. just for example a letter with our air miles on or something.
Guess I need to look into getting a shredder (not a common concept in this country (not the UK), don't even know where I'd look for one)

I wouldn't like it if there was personal stuff in it. I don't mean letters which can be shredded, I mean that some of us wrap and bin tampons and stuff like that.
If I was in your situation, I would probably not bin the stuff I was worried about until actual bin day, or ask a friend if I could put a small bag in their bin.

Anything, anything with your name and address on it makes your vulnerable to ID theft. Even if it's an unwanted catalogue. This nearly happened to a friend of mine. Although they shredded all personal stuff, they were throwing unwanted catalogues, and the like, into the recycling. It was only a timely comment by her postman about a pile of letters sitting in the sorting office waiting to be redelivered to a new address, which had yet to be confirmed by 'new' ID, that alerted her.

Point taken about names and addresses.

I've seen these blokes running down the road to get to bins before the lorry does so putting out last minute won't help.
Have to say that seeing that really upset me - for them. Can't imagine having to do that.

Think "there but for fortune go you and me"' and get a shredder.

always spred a layer of some vile guk over your rubbish in future till they lose interest in it.

and of course careful with your paper. I can't really see what a whole lot of different people in your area are hoping to find in your rubbish bins. Have you ever spoken to any ofthese people when you see them do it?

YANBU.... have you thought of talking to your local Community Police and asking them to patrol your bins occasionally?

I live in quite a chic area of the capital - so I'm guessing that the bins of some people are worth going through. The stuff then gets sold at flea markets (eg. phone chargers, computer chargers, old lamps etc. etc.).

Hasn't bothered me before getting pregnant - maybe now I'm just more sensitive to it?

Have found the term for "shredder" in the local language so will investigate further. No doubt DH will think I'm crazy (ID theft isn't talked about much here)

You could buy a cheap shredder online I'm sure!

you can soak your old paper work or burn it?

Sounds like the area where you live has some very poor people. It must be dreadful to have to go through other peoples bins to find things to enable you to eat, or just to make some money.

Why would you begrudge people what you're throwing away?

There are also things you can get which print over the name and address, which would make it much more difficult for people to use anything as proof of id/address if a shredder is hard to get in your country. You could order it from UK and have it delivered - much smaller and lighter than a shredder.

And do take antibiotics back to the pharmacy for safe disposal - not just that people might be tempted to use them, but also them breaking down and adding to all the stuff already in the water supply.

Do you have a manager/concierge for your posh flats? Could they lock the bins and unlock them just before a collection? It's not begrudging people cast-offs.... already said that they send to charity shops and recycling... but it's to deter strangers hanging about scavenging. I'd be horrified if people were doing that down my street...

Maybe put anything useful on top like supermarkets do. Get a shredder fast though

Hi, I used to live in a block of flats, our bins where locked up in a storage room below our flats and all residents had a code to get in. Come bin day our landlord used to open them for the bin men, clean the storage area then re lock. Would you be able to do this at your place?? suppose it depends on the facilities and the management of the block of flats. It was quite easy at our place as we has one very good landlord who looked after our block exceptionally well.

YANBU....but I do feel for the people that have to resort to doing this.

Also, you need to make sure you destroy our important documents safely.

also you could take unwanted medication back to the pharmacy, for peace of mind.

If you don't have a shredder, you can soak paper in water and screw it into a ball. This makes it impossible for someone to read.

If it's a communal bin, then what can you do? obviously some people are throwing away things that others can use. And isn't it better that than things just go into landfill? Someone must be very needy to be forced to go through bins. Can you imagine what they must be opening up? For every item worth saving, they must be elbow deep in dirty nappies, rotting food, used san pro...

God, if they are doing that, don't begrudge them what little benefit they might get!