What To Do With The Trash I Picked Up?

[+coloradojeep]

I went today and placed 2 new caches in a place that I enjoy very much. When I was placing the second cache I found 3 large trash bags full of trash and one small walmart bag full of trash. This area has lots of wildlife and is for the most part has no litter. The person that left the 3 large bags of houshold trash left also a name and address on some of their mail. The walmart bag also had the name and address for the person that left it, along with recepts with their name on them also.

 

My question is do I take the trash back to them and leave it on their door step with a note on how to properly dispose of their trash?

The walmart bag guy does not live close but is small enough to ship back to him. Do I box it up and UPS it back with a note on how to properly dispose of his trash?

Or do I just throw it in my dumpster and call it a day?

This just hit a bad nerve with me today while I was out enjoying the outdoors.

[+Semper Questio]

That much trash? I think I'd file a complaint with the police.

[+Pork King]

I'd probably return it to them, just to make a point. Use USPS, though...UPS cost too much!

[+ibycus]

I'd just throw it out.

Have you heard Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant"

[+coloradojeep]

I'd just throw it out.

Have you heard Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant"

Uh... No I dont guess I have. Would you like to enlighten me?

[+briansnat]

My question is do I take the trash back to them and leave it on their door step with a note on how to properly dispose of their trash?

 

Wouldn't that be justice! Or find out which car is theirs and dump it on the seat.

They'll probably just toss it out the window though.

[JohnX]

Leave the trash, call the Police and you won't even have to file a complaint. A neighbor of mine told his son he could use the car if he took the trash to the recycling center. The kid took the two bags and dumped them just off the side of the road instead taking 10 minutes to dispose of the trash properly. The father ended up in court with a $250 fine. Ouch!

[+MissJenn]

Have you heard Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant"

I thought about Alice's Restaurant as well. I wouldn't want anyone here to end up on the Group W bench!

Edited January 11, 2005 by MissJenn

[+MissJenn]

I'd just throw it out.

Have you heard Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant"

Uh... No I dont guess I have. Would you like to enlighten me?

It's a very old (good) song that goes on for 18 long minutes. In one section of the song, a guy is tracked by the authorities since they found his address in a bag of trash that he dumped.

[RustySocket]

I went today and placed 2 new caches in a place that I enjoy very much. When I was placing the second cache I found 3 large trash bags full of trash and one small walmart bag full of trash. This area has lots of wildlife and is for the most part has no litter. The person that left the 3 large bags of houshold trash left also a name and address on some of their mail. The walmart bag also had the name and address for the person that left it, along with recepts with their name on them also.

 

My question is do I take the trash back to them and leave it on their door step with a note on how to properly dispose of their trash?

The walmart bag guy does not live close but is small enough to ship back to him. Do I box it up and UPS it back with a note on how to properly dispose of his trash?

Or do I just throw it in my dumpster and call it a day?

This just hit a bad nerve with me today while I was out enjoying the outdoors.

FWIW,

 

When I was a child my friends mother was accused of dumping her trash in the woods. Basically the same circumstances the OP wrote about. The trash bags had degraded and mail with her name on it blew all over town as well as misc. garbage.

 

In reality she was the victim of mail theft and knew nothing of the situation until she was contacted by the police for littering. The thieves were eventually caught.

 

I guess my only point is make sure of what you are doing before you just assume someone dumped their trash. Lowlifes that do that kind of thing are sharper than you might think and are most likely dumping something they stole from someone else.

 

I would hesitate to take things into my own hands for several reasons. Let the police know what you found and they will take it from there.

 

my .02

 

Scott

[+coloradojeep]

I just disposed of the trash and wrote a letter to the person. The letter consisted of city codes and such to let them know the fines involved in this sort of thing.

This is the Letter that I wrote. On the envelope that I sent I put a picture of the owl "Give a Hoot Don't Pollute" and sent it off.

Dont know that it will do any good or not but at least I feel a little better. I figured that it would be better to do this than take the trash back to her.

[+Milbank]

I just disposed of the trash and wrote a letter to the person. The letter consisted of city codes and such to let them know the fines involved in this sort of thing.

This is the Letter that I wrote. On the envelope that I sent I put a picture of the owl "Give a Hoot Don't Pollute" and sent it off.

Dont know that it will do any good or not but at least I feel a little better. I figured that it would be better to do this than take the trash back to her.

I thought calling the police was good sound advice.

 

That is what I would have done.

 

I would not want to be the judge and jury.

[+Team Tigger International]

They even made Alice's Resturant into a movie , it was /is great if you happen to get a chance to view it !

 

Here's a link to the Lyrics !

 

Alice's Resturant

 

Star of Team Tigger International

[Trinity's Crew]

If I understand your post correctly, you had already removed the trash from the area. Calling the police after you took possesion of the trash probably would not have done much. It would have been your word against the dumpers as to whether you actually found it where you said you did.

Disposing of the trash and sending a letter was, IMHO, the best course of action.

 

But all of this gets me thinking...If I steal my neighbors trash, dump it in the woods, and anonymously call the police, would they get a fine? My neighbor better start treating me nicer!

[+CoolBreeze2513]

If I understand your post correctly, you had already removed the trash from the area. Calling the police after you took possesion of the trash probably would not have done much. It would have been your word against the dumpers as to whether you actually found it where you said you did.

Disposing of the trash and sending a letter was, IMHO, the best course of action.

 

But all of this gets me thinking...If I steal my neighbors trash, dump it in the woods, and anonymously call the police, would they get a fine? My neighbor better start treating me nicer!

I would have to agree here

[+coloradojeep]

I had removed the trash already so calling the police would not have done much good. The funny thing is the address that I found in the trash belongs to the people that live right accross the street from my parents. I told my mom about it and I was thinking that they lived close. Then the other day she told me her neighbor next door said "Thanks for taking my trash out to the curb for me." My mom told her that it was not her. We think it was the person accross the street that I wrote the letter to that put their trash in the bin and took it to the street. So hey it might have done some good.

[+TeamTek]

I went today and placed 2 new caches in a place that I enjoy very much. When I was placing the second cache I found 3 large trash bags full of trash and one small walmart bag full of trash. This area has lots of wildlife and is for the most part has no litter. The person that left the 3 large bags of houshold trash left also a name and address on some of their mail. The walmart bag also had the name and address for the person that left it, along with recepts with their name on them also.

 

My question is do I take the trash back to them and leave it on their door step with a note on how to properly dispose of their trash?

The walmart bag guy does not live close but is small enough to ship back to him. Do I box it up and UPS it back with a note on how to properly dispose of his trash?

Or do I just throw it in my dumpster and call it a day?

This just hit a bad nerve with me today while I was out enjoying the outdoors.

We actually had a person despose his trash in front of my dads trash dumpster at his work. Well the person that was doing it was remodeling thier house and they threw away all of thier left overs in front of my dads work. We looked through it and found a school book and it had a name in it. My mom works at the school and we had her look up the name to find the adress. WHen we found it they were indeeed remodeling. We took thier trash and threw it inside the house. All the workers working at the house looked at us knowing they did something wrong. This wan't just a little trash, no it was a whole dumpster full. So once we unloaded all of the trash I think they got the picture about dumping thier trash properly.

[+MissJenn]

We took thier trash and threw it inside the house. All the workers working at the house looked at us knowing they did something wrong. This wan't just a little trash, no it was a whole dumpster full. So once we unloaded all of the trash I think they got the picture about dumping thier trash properly.

So, are you saying that two wrongs make a right?

[+Seay me]

Two wrongs don't make a right, but 3 lefts do, not to mention that when you multiply two negatives it makes a positive.....

 

I can feel this thread starting to go in a direction it wasn't intended.

 

I like pie.

[+New England n00b]

Two wrongs don't make a right, but 3 lefts do, not to mention that when you multiply two negatives it makes a positive.....

 

I can feel this thread starting to go in a direction it wasn't intended.

 

I like pie.

Oh, go divide by zero. Sheesh.

 

I don't think I'd have thrown it back in their house. I'd've dropped it in their driveway and spoken to the owners (rather than the remodelers) about the habits of their employees.

[+TeamTek]

All I know is that it got the point across better then words. NOw I know that they will never do it again.

[+Planet]

Last Thanksgiving, I was driving through MA not too far from Sturbridge, and heard an updated long version of Alice's Restaurant. He made a sly reference to having been invited to the White House, and how the Nixon Library had a copy of the song, and it was open, and mysteriously there were 18 minutes and 20 seconds missing form the Watergate tapes, and that song runs 18 minutes and 20 seconds, but I don't know anything about that!

 

Throw the garbage away. And know in your heart that YOU are a good person. If there are enough of us, we can outnumber them.

[velma13m]

I think you should mail it back telling them to properly dispose of it because things like that will ruin our in enviornment in the years to come!

Don't judge me by what i post because what would i know i am only 13!!

Edited January 31, 2005 by velma13m

[+betzalot]

Depending on your area, the police may not do anything about the trash....I too am disgusted by this kind of behavior...I am one who calls the Motor vehicle hotline and reports the trash being thrown out of car windows-the offender gets sent a note saying someone saw them litter and a car sized trash bag....

I would want them to know- and i probably would send the trash back to them, to make a point-im sure they would be alarmed to get their trash back-maybe it would be enough of a deterrent???Who knows

[+Right Wing Wacko]

I had removed the trash already so calling the police would not have done much good. The funny thing is the address that I found in the trash belongs to the people that live right accross the street from my parents. I told my mom about it and I was thinking that they lived close. Then the other day she told me her neighbor next door said "Thanks for taking my trash out to the curb for me." My mom told her that it was not her. We think it was the person accross the street that I wrote the letter to that put their trash in the bin and took it to the street. So hey it might have done some good.

That is unless he took twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against them.

[+everythingspersonal]

That is unless he took twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against them.

 

I know a local couple who got busted for cocaine possession because they had cocaine residue in plastic baggies in their garbage that was put out on the curb. The police had been watching the residence in an undercover drug sting and every time they put the trash out, the police would drive up and get it during the night. The cocaine was found in bags that also contained mail from the residence so it "linked" the drugs to the couple. Within a couple of days warrants were issued and the SWAT team was banging on their door :-)

I always throw my garbage away correctly and we carry a roll of bags with us while caching.

[+karstic]

If this was on BLM or USFS land, report it to the agency. The land agencies are starting to prosecute trash dumper because of the increased cost in cleaning up dumped trash. If you see a vehicle dumping trash try to get a description of the vehicle and occupants.