Can and bottle collectors, thanks for the mess!

I don't mind when they take my cans, and I don't think we're contributing to them being "can people". There are a lot less honest ways to get money and if I'm not interested in turning in my bottles for the deposit and somebody else is....well, more power to them.

I do get pissed when they make a mess, and I'd me furious if I got a ticket for it.

I also leave the top fairly loose in hopes of encouraging them to open the bag and close it again without ripping it, but that doesn't always happen.

Sometimes when I see them coming I tell them "here....feel free, but please close the bag and leave it in the same spot when finished". I'm hoping that they think if I know them and they know me that next time if I'm not around they'll remember to do the right thing.

Subject: Re: Can and bottle collectors, thanks for the mess!

erikka wrote: I got a ticket this morning from the sanitation department due to a mess made by the people who dig through our recycling for cans and bottles. Turns out they started digging in the garbage as well and left garbage strewn all over the sidewalk. I don't care if people take things out of the recycling--I actually leave the bag loosely tied so they can get at it easier and don't have to rip it. But the collectors have been getting more aggressive lately and have been making a huge mess--I've tried putting the recycling out right before the garbage truck comes but I have to leave for work at 6:30 am, which gives them enough time to dump the bags out and take what they want. Does anyone else have this problem? How do you deal with it?

Erikka - I have started putting out two bags of recycling using clear bags (instead of blue). I put cans in one bag and the rest of my recycling in the other. It seems that with the clear bags they can easily tell that there are no cans in the second bag, and they just take the can with the bags and leave the other bag alone.

I presort.
I leave an open shopping bag hanging on the side of the fence, with deposit bottles. I kinda like getting them out of the house quicker, so I usually drop them on my way out to walk the dog at night or in the am.

The only resulting irritation I have is when someone uses the bag as a general trash...so I started hanging it off the street more, so someone has to come in the gate to use it.

It's surprisingly *not* a pain in the ass.
I didn't like the noise or my bag getting ripped open. There's quite a few elderly that I see collecting, and I'd like to make it easy for them. It's a hard life, and I think an honest way to make a buck.

erikka wrote: [quote=pitu]I presort.
I leave an open shopping bag hanging on the side of the fence, with deposit bottles. I kinda like getting them out of the house quicker, so I usually drop them on my way out to walk the dog at night or in the am.

I'm not sure what they're looking for (sorry, my knowledge of recycling in the area is limited to knowing that it goes out on Monday and Thursday). Obvs cans, glass bottles as well? Are plastic bottles worthless? I might just presort like you suggested--that seems easy enough. But if I catch someone putting holes in the garbage bags, looking for god only knows what, I am going to adminster a six a.m. beatdown.

only things with a 5 cent deposit as far as I know
carbonated anything (soda, beer), and they're labeled

I haven't seen people digging for scrap metal/glass/plastic in this country
:shock:
and not everyone picks up the large heavy fancy obscure beer bottles. Maybe the recycling center doesn't want them, dunno. Some canners just take cans and plastic bottles - glass is heavy.
The elderly Asian couple on my block takes everything.

Flexichick wrote: I don't mind when they take my cans....

hahaha, ok sorry.

Carnivore wrote: [quote=kosherdave][quote=Flexichick]I don't mind when they take my cans....

hahaha, ok sorry.
It's only a matter of time before every discussion on this board turns to Flexichick's cans... :roll:

Hey, now! I go out for a few hours and I'm a hot topic again. I'm innocent (this time)!

pitu wrote: I presort.
I leave an open shopping bag hanging on the side of the fence, with deposit bottles. I kinda like getting them out of the house quicker, so I usually drop them on my way out to walk the dog at night or in the am.

i do the exact same thing. the few extra minutes i spend on recycling day sorting cans and bottles from other recyclables saves me the headache and bad mood of cleaning up after someone tore through my bags. and i leave the returnables bag open, so if the first person comes along is a cans-only collector, then they take what they want and leave the rest. eventually, it all goes.

they dont make ripple no more.

Subject: Re: Can and bottle collectors, thanks for the mess!

Drano wrote: Can you still get Ripple? I've been thinking of having a cheap wine tasting contest/party/whatever, but the only stuff I can find around here is Sisco (with thanks to these boards!)

Does it have to be in the NightTrain kitsch family of libations? Boone's Farm? Taylor Lake Country Pink? Is grape flavor Malt Duck still out there??

If not there's a bounty of $3 - $5 bottles at Trader Joe's and one of them might be delicious!

Canners will not be interested in these bottles however. No deposit, no return.

I almost never give money to panhandlers (unless I'm drunk), but allowing people to take my cans and bottles is one thing that doesn't bother me in the slightest. Playing us for suckers?? Enabling their "can dependence"? I'm pretty baffled by these comments. How am I a sucker if someone takes my garbage and recycles it? And if they make a living off of that, even if they make millions, that doesn't bother me at all. It's not begging, it actually a legitimate contribution. Fine, the noise issue I can understand, and obviously no one wants their trash strewn about. I just leave my bottles in the recycling bin and have never had a problem.

Subject: Re: Any one know who we're dealing with?

raw wrote: Are the people going through our trash homeless? Are they living in poverty in homes? Are they jobless rich people seeking dirty jollies?

When I was living in Ditmas Park there was a guy living in my building who collected cans. He wasn't homeless, but he was kind of disturbed and was living with his sister. I don't think he could've held down a regular job, so he collected cans to help out. It didn't seem like they depended on the proceeds from the cans. It was more like the guy needed something to do.

Subject: Put the money in a separate bag

As a transplant from Vermont who is now living in Brooklyn Heights, I'm amazed that Adults do the bottle/can scavenging that I used to do as a child supplementing my allowance over 25 years ago. (People tossed their beer bottles out car windows onto the grass.) And these adults do it for the same old five-cent deposit. It takes 200 bottles and cans just to make 10 bucks!

I understand that New York's history of recycling goes back to the ragpickers who made sure no cotton scrap went unresold. I am glad that these options allow some independence for people who find it hard to do better. I have heard that some can-scavenging routes are long-established and well-defended by those who follow them.

I always leave my 5-cent deposit bottles and cans in a separate plastic grocery bag. Too bad that uncarbonated water (those little plastic bottles) have no deposits. (Ask your state legislators to pass the Bigger Better Bottle Bill; you'll see fewer overflowing public trash cans.)

Subject: Re: Update

erikka wrote: Is anyone else in the area (south slope/16th street) having this problem as well (there's mostly construction on my block so I can't tell)? I give up.

sorry you are still experiencing problems.

to answer your question, i'm on windsor place and we don't seem to have that problem for the most part.