AIBU to ask WTAF is wrong with people???

[LonginesPrime]

I'm in the process of redecorating one of the kids' bedrooms. The council are coming to collect some of the bulky items we're getting rid of, including small sofa bed, some ikea shelf units and some wood from dismantled cabin beds. I put it outside in my front garden this morning ready for collection as it was a two person job and that was when I had someone to help. We live in a standard Victorian terrace with just a small square of concrete for the garden at the front, separated from the pavement by a waist-height wall and a metal gate.

When I came home this afternoon, I saw that two of the shelf units had been taken (and the sofa bed placed on the floor, where previously it had been sitting on the units).

This is fine and, although I thought it a little cheeky that someone would come into my garden to take things (i.e. they weren't left on the pavement), I expect this in London and appreciate that someone might want some battered old bookcases. I even thought to myself 'well, at least they put the sofa bed back how considerate'.

However, I just went out to put out the rubbish and noticed that one of the black bags that I'd put in the plastic bin was now in front of the bin and had been opened. I then realised that a child's plastic bow (the shooting kind) which was in one of the bags had been left on the windowsill next to the bins and there was a matted-haired My Little Pony on the ground.

I opened the other bins and saw that someone had ripped open each of the bags and had left the contents spilling everywhere. The council won't take them like that so I'm the one who gets screwed if I just leave them. So I've had to tip the bins up to get everything out of them and into new bin bags in the dark, tipping a load of old rainwater/rancid bin juice over my path and my bare feet in the process.

I get that someone obviously realised I was having a clearout and they've clearly taken bits and pieces, and I get that there's a lot of poverty and that one man's trash is another man's treasure, but AIBU to think that you don't go into someone's front garden, open their bins and rip up the bags inside them?

I'm off to have a hot bath and to ponder what's becoming of the world...

Some people are in need.
Some people will take anything if it's there.

Why are you binning perfectly good stuff?

Try putting it on freecycle or donating to your local charity shop.

A great big landfill site is what's becoming of the world.

Yabu to cast aside a my little pony. .

I can understand how tiring the whole Freecycle and charity shop thing can be but London is brimming with working poor, let alone others.
Someone must be really desperate I open your bin bags.

"To", not "I".

There was a thread on here recently where someone found a black bag full of designer clothes in someone's bin, so I guess these guys might have been a bit disappointed with a my little pony.

It's not tiring to take stuff to charity shops. It's just lazy. Some charities will even collect.

Why would you not give the unwanted stuff away?

A charity came and took my entire kitchen away that I just had replaced.
The food bank had my old sofa. It went to a single mum of 4 who had just been rehoused and didn't have a stick of furniture.

I do see how the people going through bin bags and leaving a mess can be annoying but given that they could see what you were binning perhaps they thought there was other stuff worth having.

Nobody should be taking things from your garden - rubbish or otherwise - its theft -

I'd be really annoyed they ratch through your bins - bloody annoying

YANBU. The others have a point about the stuff you're binning, but it's not okay at all to go through somebody's rubbish and leave a mess?!

Bloody annoying. My eldery mother left bagged items out for charity collection and came home to find some of it stewn across the pavement and the gutter. You may be in need but don't take the piss.

I have read that it is usual in some countries for people to put unwanted furniture etc outside their door and anyone can help themselves. Sounds like a good idea to me. Perhaps that's what happened here.

Why are you binning perfectly good stuff?

I put anything that I think people might be able to use on Freecycle. I wouldn't have done that with the shelving units as they had come away at the base and were in bad condition. Whoever took them would have needed to fix them before using them, and in our area, the stuff on Freecycle is usually in working order.

The bow was a cheap plastic one with no string or arrows and the My Little Pony had pen on it and matted hair, so it hadn't occurred to me that a charity shop would want it. Hence both items having been rejected by the people going through my bin.

Other items in the bag were things like paper clips, some crappy kids' hair extensions, bathroom waste and bits of broken folders. I'm a massive hoarder so I wouldn't be chucking anything I thought anyone could use, because I kept that stuff!

My point was that they would have to come into my garden, take the lids off the bins and rip open the bags first to know whether they were getting sanitary waste or designer clothes (not that I own any!).

I agree with you that people coming into your front garden to get things is not on.

On the other hand I've got rid of loads of stuff by putting it at the end of the drive.

Yes, Scabetty - it's exactly that!

If people want to take the bags and their contents, then fine, but leaving a mess for the owners to clear up is a bit off!

Yes, I really don't mind that people took the furniture - it's the mess they left that annoyed me.

They were probably pissed off that there was only really random crap in the bin bags, but in my defence, the clue was in the fact I'd put them in the bin!

Anything in our front garden - be it stuff to be taken (like small computer tables as it was last week ) or scrap white goods is taken by the end of the day. Have to ensure we take everything in even if just nipping in to do something/get something when cleaning or it'd be gone in seconds.

Just yesterday after a clear out I put out a load of plastic storage things - baskets/tubs/those sectioned screw/nail boxes and they went with in half an hour.

We also used to have someone who'd check our bin on a weekly basis - once a bag of ripped up paper was taken (pre-recycling tubs and no charity shop would come pick it up and I can't drive). and you could see where they'd carried it down the street after ripping it open to check as little bits had fallen out in a trail! I guess they thought they'd find some personal details on it they could use.... unfortunately for them it was full of blank scrap paper!

It must really piss off my next door neighbour because its not the same for her - her washer has been in her front garden for about a month now... last time we put a washer out it was gone by the time I returned outside to put the old pipes out too!

I dread it when we have skips to fill. Somebody always comes to rummage, and without permission and take things away, which is fine. However, it's those people who tip things out onto the floor and make a mess, it's really inconsiderate.
Yanbu

Someone nicked my sisters broom - she'd been using it to sweep up 2 mins before - she chased them and got it back

Some people are cheeky feckers

I wouldnt have a problem with them taking the shelves and stuff but ripping open bin bags is not on. Sadly some people will do anything if they think they can make a buck out of it.

My mum saw some totters going through the belongings of a family who's house was gutted by fire. They had been slung out of the window and left in the front garden by the fire service. The family had been taken to hospital. Sadly she didnt tell me until it was too late to call the police on the thieving bastards

I have quite often put stuff out for 'pixies'. I am currently wondering if I should put the old dead cooker out and see if the pixies take it rather than paying the council E20 to do so...

Slight tangent - if you live in central London and have no car, getting to the charity shop post clear out is an arse. If anyone knows a charity that will collect "stuff" (e.g. books, clothes - not just big items/furniture) AND can do so evenings/weekends, as DH and I both work full time - please let me know. I have looked!

Engaged, I can't answer your query but if you get desperate put them in a clear plastic bag (so people can see contents) if possible, then write on "free",
I emigrated and had a lot of clothes etc left over and no time to take them to the shops. I had limited space so had to cull a lot of clothing and that's what I did. All was gone in about half a day (4 full bags of women's clothes 1 bag of soft furnishings curtains etc 1 bag of baby clothes)
I ran out of clear bags so just stuck some paper to it and wrote on that to label contents.
Worth a shot.

Where i live in london it's pretty well accepted that anything left out is there for the taking. It's recycling, people get things they want or can make use of, and you save the council collection fee. I always left stuff on my drive and it went overnight. Not the pavement as a) that's flytipping, and b) a sofa would block pedestrians, buggies, wheelchairs etc.

Why would you rather pay the council to come and take things for landfill or incineration, than let someone who can make use of it take it?

In Bristol we leave things on the wall for people to take.

ReanimatedSGB do it, there's always scrap vans driving around looking for stuff. We've disposed of a couple of large items this way. We couldn't fit them in the car, and they don't allow work vans at the tip.