This past weekend, I was at my sister’s house where she is working on demolishing her kitchen in preparation for a renovation. She has a garbage dumpster in her driveway and while we were getting ready for bed, we heard her car alarm go off. We looked outside, but didn’t see anything, so we assumed it was an animal. When we woke up in the morning and went by the garbage bin, we noticed her water heater, dishwasher, and a pot she recently burned eggs in were all removed from the dumpster. It seems that people came in the middle of the night to take her metal garbage from the bin.

While these items were being thrown out anyway, this definitely felt like a violation. We also realized that some metal was taken off a fridge from her driveway. This was disappointing as she was planning on donating the fridge. We felt that taking the metal from the fridge was a little more concerning as the pilferage was not limited to just the garbage bin.

I totally understand why people are going through the bins looking to make a quick buck. I even see how this could be good for the environment. However, I do think you should be careful about what you leave lying around outside your house and how secure your home is at night…especially when you have a large garbage bin in plain view.