Putting rubbish in someone else’s bin

[Isthisstillmymidlifecrisis]

Today it was the black wheely day. There had been a crash on the main road and the bin collection was late. The rubbish collection team are using pretty good but today have been more slapdash than usual and have dropped loads of rubbish, which is now collecting in the kerb gutters and drains.
I’m on a dog walk and picked up a load of the rubbish (sweet wrappers, cat food pouch and crisp packet). I put it in a spare unused dog poo bag and then put it in a black wheely bin that was still in the pavement. I don’t know it it was their rubbish but it’s not mine and it would have gone down the drain if not picked up. I was about 20 mins away from home and there’s not a public bin for some distance (and I’m not heading that way).

i usually pick up litter - isn’t that what we’re meant to do?

Anyway, the occupants of the house just came out screaming at me for putting my dog sh*t in their bin. I said “no it’s not dog mess but litter that I’ve picked up from the street by their house ” but they wouldn’t listen and said I was disgusting.

I didn’t stay and listen to them ranting but I do walk along that road at least twice a day and am now feeling rage full that I was trying to do a good thing and got yelled at.

Was I unreasonable to use their bin? what would you have done?

So funny I nearly put something in my neighbours bin today, then thought twice about it. Had to correct myself as in telling myself that’s not not my bin. Oh ok.

I'm quite torn on this because technically what you did is fly tipping but I can totally see why you did it and your intentions were good.

I get annoyed though sometimes when passers by pu trubbish in my bins if it is in the wrong bin - general rubbish in the recycling for instance. And I have had someone put dog pooh in my garden waste bin. I've never gone out and screamed at them though.

If it had been dog poo that was put in it would have been an issue as it stinks and if at the bottom of the bin it can stay there after a bin empty. This was the sort of thing they were concerned by, I would think.

Best left and then reported. They may well have reported it themselves already.

Must say I thought this thread would be about topping up other bins with your own rubbish.

Next time don’t bother to clear up the rubbish outside other peoples houses. You were helping but they should have done this job. I see why you picked up the litter.

This is what's wrong with the world. See a bit of litter - report it to an anonymous someone in a council department that you'll probably have to struggle to find the details of - someone has to pick up the query, log it in a system, pass the message on to someone who probably then has to speak to their team, arrange for them to come out to the area, requiring transportation, and pay them to do that...for a few bits of rubbish which by that time will have already blown/washed away. Wouldn't it be just much nicer if we all put a bit of effort in to keeping the place we live looking nice and clean, and actually had conversations with our neighbours while we're at it.

The issue would be they would then have dog shit stinking up their bin for the next fortnight and as soon as they put anything heavy in the bin that dog shit will go everywhere. Would you want to be having to wash dog shit out of your bin?

Why not?? I find this sort of thing ridiculous. My bin is out at the moment and I couldn't care less if half the street puts things in it. People get irritated by the most pathetic things.

I despair 🤣🤣 A bin is for rubbish, I wouldn't batter an eyelid and would have been grateful someone picked it up.

It's a bin. Why would anyone have the screaming abdabs about someone putting rubbish in their bin?

Christ, some people are just freaks.

Wouldn’t bother me at all. I’d rather that than people chucking empty cans and crisp bags over our wall, into our hedge, on our potted plants. Which happens all the bastard time.

Don't put anything in others' bins, period.

It's not up to you what is and is not acceptable.

Rubbish is fine
Dog Poo isn’t

They assumed it was dog poo

This.

It's not up to you, OP, or anyone else to decide when and how to use others' bins.

If you want to be a do-gooder, carry it home.

there are surely public bins you could have put it in?

There are no public bins where I live.

I wouldn’t mind the old bit of rubbish being put in my bin, particularly if somebody was tidying up the road, but I draw the line at dog poo.

You are completely the one in the right here OP. Don't let these nobs put you off doing your civic duty!

Not in the UK so things are likely different here but…we pay for the bins and the rubbish disposal but they are technically not “our” bins and still belong to the local council. Any bin on public property (eg, road for collection or on the nature strip outside someone’s house) is fair game - can be accessed and used by anyone. You cannot, however, go onto someone’s private property to access their bin (that would be trespassing). On bin night, if someone has put their bin out, anyone else can put rubbish in it. As long as it’s not being overfilled, rubbish is appropriately contained and put in the correct bin, I don’t understand the fuss. Even dog poo or nappies, I’d rather they were in a bag in my bin than left on the road or footpath!

People are funny about their bins, they get them cleaned, use liners, use fragrance tabs- YABU unfortunately. Use a public bin- you should be careful as there could’ve been anything hidden in the litter, including shit.

Actually, putting litter in someone else's bin regardless of where it has come from is classed as fly tipping. Look it up if you don't believe me. Apparently you can be fined for it!. I appreciate you were trying to do a good deed but if the council don't provide bins on the road for the public to use then you should have just left it and reported it. The people that came out shouting have probably had bags of dog poo thrown in their bins in the past and are sick of it. We all pay council tax for the privilege of having our own bins and having them emptied. If you really wanted to do a good deed you should have took the rubbish home with you. It's annoying when other people think it's OK to put their rubbish in bins that don't belong to them. It's just being respectful and considerate. You chose to pick rubbish up so you should have taken it home or just left it in my opinion!

It’s no wonder we seem to regress as a society, looking at some of the responses here. Of course you did the right thing. Thank you for taking the litter off the streets and away from our waterways and sorry you have to put up with abuse.