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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Bin Etiquitte

50 replies

RedBlu · 03/01/2017 16:31

Due to Christmas and bank holidays, our general waste bin hasn't been emptied for nearly three weeks.

We put our bin out last night for collection this morning as we always do (they tend to collect early) and I have now experienced my first "bin etiquitte" drama!! At some point between last night and this morning someone decided to use the last bit of space in my bin to add a bag of their own, meaning that when I went to add the last bag this morning, there wasn't room!

So I removed the offending bag, and added mine leaving the other bag along side my bin. No idea who did it, but it's general waste so I am not intending on digging around for clues.

However, the bin men won't take extra bags so it's been left. I heard the bin men being quite rude and pointing at various households who had left out extra bags and they simply refused to take them.

I now feel somewhat annoyed that I am left with a random bag of rubbish that isn't mine and whoever it was didn't have the decency to ask if they could add to our bin, they just snuck about like a bin ninja in the night.

Am I right in thinking this is not good bin etiquitte!?

OP posts:

BackforGood · 03/01/2017 23:58

Good grief - hardly worth getting worked up about. Just stick it in the bottom of the bin ready for next week's collection.
If the collections are that early that you put your bin out the night before (as ours are) then it wasn't unreasonable to presume you had put all your rubbish out, so therefore not unreasonable to use any space.
Certainly not worth worrying about.

lokivonpoki · 04/01/2017 00:00

I'm guilty of this

They probably thought that as your bin was out you had nothing else to add to it

CondensedMilkSarnies · 04/01/2017 00:01

Redblu I think the only option is to return the bag to its rightful owner. To do this you will obviously have to root through it to see if there are any clues such as letters with an address on . Failing that , you will have to send the contents for DNA testing .

WorraLiberty · 04/01/2017 00:07

If you put it out at night for an early collection, I expect they thought you'd binned all your rubbish.

Surely the extra bag you put out this morning must've been nearly full last night anyway, if you couldn't fit it in with their bag too?

On the other hand, if your bins haven't been collected for 3 weeks due to Christmas, your refuse collectors should exercise a bit more lenience.

I'd be getting onto the council's website to complain they didn't take the excess sacks to be honest.

pigsDOfly · 04/01/2017 00:15

Most people here put their bins out quite early in the evening ready for the next day so I would imagine they will have rubbish to add to them before they go to bed.

Think it's a bit cheeky to stick your rubbish in someone else's bin without asking.

Where I used to live the council was threatening to fine people if they put stuff that should be recycled into their regular rubbish bins - don't know if they actually did it - and I be pretty pissed off if a neighbour put their stuff in my bin and I was issued with a fine because they'd put the wrong stuff in.

whyamiawake · 04/01/2017 00:19

What are u going to do?

WorraLiberty · 04/01/2017 00:20

Yeah but the OP added the last bag in the morning, despite having put the rubbish out the night before. So that would mean the night before, the bag was nearly full anyway.

Not that it really gives someone the right to use her bin, but I doubt they wanted to knock and ask at night time.

Plus I'm assuming this is a one off, due to the Christmas period.

WorraLiberty · 04/01/2017 00:24

I however, had the genius idea tonight of skulking about in the dark and popping 3 bags into the bin of an empty house in the street that's up for sale

The nextdoor neighbour asked me what I was doing in a bit of a snotty tone.

I said I'm using the empty bin, what does it look like I'm doing?

She opened her mouth to reply but no words came out

DontTouchTheMoustache · 04/01/2017 00:25

It is really annoying that they wouldn't take the extra bag. I understand they have a general rule, but as a general rule the bins get collected every other week so they should make an allowance. We haven't had ours collected for 3 weeks either (Thursday is our lucky day) and I'm really struggling at the moment (mostly with dirty nappies).

Scrumptiousbears · 04/01/2017 00:25

I have done this myself but in my defence it was later in the day of the collection. I'd be pissed off if it happened to me though. I actually think I'd go through it to see who it belonged to

WorraLiberty · 04/01/2017 00:33

The annoying thing here is even if they do relax and take surplus bags, due to the Christmas period, the fucking foxes get to them first.

ChickenVindaloo2 · 04/01/2017 00:36

I lock my bin in my shed and only present it on the kerb when it is ready to go. Do similar. Or get a bin padlock.

I have not forgotten you, dearest downstairs neighbours and I WILL get you one day

ChickenVindaloo2 · 04/01/2017 00:39

I have also passively-aggressively painted my flat number in huge writing on every surface of my bin.

Bin space is at a premium here. only bloody thing I get for my council tax

ChickenVindaloo2 · 04/01/2017 00:40

Just pick the neighbour you hate the most and dump it on their doorstep. No longer your problem.

MikeUniformMike · 04/01/2017 00:43

I have had bins not emptied because some idiot puts rubbish in the recycling bin or green bin. OP, you have my sympathy.
OTOH, if my neighbour has too much rubbish, I'm not averse to picking up their bag and popping it in my bin.

Honeydragon · 04/01/2017 00:49

This kept happening to me. Only the bastards were overfilling my bin risking job collection. Called the council who advised alway remove and rubbish not yours and call them so they are aware you're reporting not fly tipppng.

HeartsTrumpDiamonds · 04/01/2017 00:51

Cheeky! And if you just put the extraneous bag in the bin waiting for next time, you will have an overflow problem at the end of the next 2 weeks.

As for spare bags left outside of the bins, it's raccoons, squirrels and coyotes rather than foxes here, but principle is the same. Raccoons can open most wheelie bins though!!

DailyFail1 · 04/01/2017 00:53

This is why collections by bag, as happens here, is so much better. Can you ask your council to consider it?

Honeydragon · 04/01/2017 00:59

Hearts can you send me a raccoon? I really want one.

MissVictoria · 04/01/2017 01:05

Our bins never get emptied before 10AM these days, and we were never issued anything but the black bin. We've had cheeky people put an extra bag in meaning our lid doesn't close so our rubbish hasn't been emptied! I don't understand the "lid must close completely" rule if i'm honest. The lid doesnt need to fully close to go on the machine at the back of the lorry. When they don't empty for 3 weeks because it doesn't fit their fortnightly schedule to empty of christmas thy should be a bit more lenient imo.

In this situation i'd chuck the bag that wasn't mine out of my bin and to the side. Let someone else go digging to find out whose it is if they're so inclined, but it's not your problem. If binmen leave it, report it as fly tipping.

BBCNewsRave · 04/01/2017 01:06

My neighbour's bin was full of something foul and rotting (their fault). The man wheeled it off somewhere and returned with a different stolen bin.

When I popped to the shop later, I passed their bin (recognisable by smell from some distance away). Was very tempted to swop them back again...

Hidingtonothing · 04/01/2017 01:28

This happened to me a few weeks ago, same scenario, the last bit of space taken up by someone else's bag meaning there was no room for my last bag which I took out before bed the night before collection was due. I took the offending bag out and left it in the street, fortunately I was in when the binmen arrived so I nipped out and explained what had happened and they took it no problem. I hope whoever put the bag in my bin saw that I'd taken it out though and it's put them off trying it again, we've only recently changed to fortnightly collections from weekly (same size bin) so it's already a struggle trying to fit it all in without other people dumping their extras on us.

HeartsTrumpDiamonds · 04/01/2017 02:20

Honeydragon I would gladly send raccoons to everyone on MN if it would get them off my fucking property. Yes they are cute but boy do they make one hell of a mess.

We have the "lid must close completely" rule here too. I think it's because the bin men don't want rubbish from the open bin falling on them when the bins are being hoisted up on the back of the truck?

Treaclex · 04/01/2017 06:53

I'm guilty of using free space in neighbours bins but we have an understanding so we all from time to time use each other's bins. This has however reminded me of an incident prior to having the bins, I caught a now ex neighbours kids pissing on my bin bags 😳 it was late but I knocked on the neighbours door and she made the kids come out and clean the bin bags yuck

pklme · 04/01/2017 07:17

The lid closed rule helps prevent rubbish from blowing around, makes sure people aren't ridiculously overfilling the bin, helps prevent wildlife infesting the bin...

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