The latest complaint from a homeowner

IF SO, THEN SOMEONE HAS TO CATCH THEM. NO OTHER SOLUTION

Hehe.

Just tell the complainer that it's the Recycle Can Fairy.

Pay no attention. They only sting if riled.

But if he's really worried, he can spray them with Fairy Bomb.

Send her a letter:
"Complaint received. No action taken"

Sounds like a police issue to me. Nothing to do with your HOA. The city may or may not have laws against this.

we had the same thing happening. I finally saw the person and just walked up to her and asked if I could help her with something. She was honest and just told me she was looking for cans. I asked if she was an owner and she said no.

I then let her know that we would rather she not go through our trash as I don't know if she is trying to get labels from magazines to find out who lives here. She understood and said she wouldn't come back.

r

In Fort Worth taking items from the recycle bins is a misdemeanor offense. The thing is that the cans help pay for the cost of the program and if people take all the cans, then the cost goes up dramatically.

If this homeowner is so concerned, have them chronically complain to the county, or collect ever neighbor's recyclables and drive them to the recycling center themselves!

Michelle - I loved your can, but I think this guy has too much energy with no place to use it as it is.

I think most of you got it. I'm sure we all have at least one of these guys in the neighborhood. Unfortunately I've got a handful. They think they are helping, but with some of these things they are just over the top. I've received photos of neighbor's bushes that "block the sidewalk" (they extend maybe 2" outside of the planter), or of unruly kids (they were riding their bikes in the street). When I got that message yesterday (with a subject line of "recycle theifs") it was just too comical. I don't want to intentionally insult these people because there are times when they do report useful things (broken sprinkler heads, etc), but somebody picking through the recyclables? Even if it is a "crime", it's just not an HOA issue.

Dwight,

You're right! In fact, there are some people in the city (not in my s/d) who actually complain about this great service. They don't like seeing the "trash" out on the street -- some people abuse the policy and put it out earlier than allowed. But I think we're lucky the city wants to provide this service; Phoenix only has a once a YEAR large trash pickup! Incidentally, this service is not only for furniture, etc it's also for landscaping debris. Even if you have a landscaper doing the trimming if there is a large project he can wait until the large pickup week and put the trimmings on the sidewalk. It saves him the time and expense of going to the dump. My husband does all our landscaping and he always waits for that week otherwise we'd have to haul everything to the dump ourselves.

Here in San Diego, it is illegal to remove items from the curbside containers, but who is going to enforce that? So it is a common occurrence. They have attempted to control somewhat by limiting the amount that one person can bring to a recycle facility at one time, etc. Nothing much changed.