I would encourage buying a paper shredder. They are pretty cheap. A lot cheaper than having your identity stolen.

Gayle

I have a choice of several trash companies here. I picked Chitty because their name is so funny. DS loves to tell me that my trash company is really Chitty. I usually bag my trash because I can put the newspapers, kitchen and bathroom garbage all in the bag and just make one trip outside in the sub zero weather. If I forget to put my trash can out in front, the collector will come around the back and get my can.
I am wondering if your trash collectors are looking through it to sort out recycleables. Our trash is burned to produce electricity for the city. Glass is not supposed to be in the trash because it melts and damages the burner.

Yup, I agree with Gayle - Office Depot here has a shredder that just sits on the garbage can for about $7. Not a large investment in saving oneself from possible trouble down the road -
as for the gal who picked up a bag of trash off the side of the road - EWWW - and I would also recommend putting some cruddy stuff in bags so anybody who thinks they are going to sift through your trash gets more than they bargained for.
I think it's sad that these days everything becomes so much more cumbersome - can't even put the garbage out without second guessing it.
Suzan J

I shred all personal mail and mix it with mu used cat litter. No ID theft wants to pick thru cat pooh!

Oh, it's not a huge problem to me--we burn all our identity-sensitive trash in the fire pot out back. I haven't thrown out anything like that in years.

We have town trash pick up--we don't pay or chose our trash men. The town contracts one firm to pick up all the trash (and we do pay, of course, with our taxes, but are at the mercy of the firm the town decides to use).

We separate all our trash--every trash day (Wed in my neighborhood) several trucks come by. One for regular trash, one picks up recyclable paper, and one gets the glass, plastic and aluminum. And the next day, a truck comes for any compostable lawn refuse. All my neighbors seem to properly sort their trash into the appropriate bins, so I seriously doubt that the guys I saw picking through the trash cans were doing that. And they seemed to have special hidey-holes on the truck where they were stashing their found treasures.

Will be interesting to see if the mayor ever gets back to me.

DH saw our trash man pull out a bunch frozen meat that we tossed after a power outage. Bleh...

Folks that garden should consider getting some of the worms that eat garbage. Not only do my worms eat my banana peels, apple cores, carrot peeling and coffee grounds, they also devour my shredded stuff. Identity theft prevention at a WHOLE different level. :)

I hate trash day on windy days. Seems like no one cares if stuff flies out of their can, nor do the collectors care. There is always a lot of stuff flying around on windy trash days, that I get to dig out of my flower bed, and pick up along the fence.

Moni

we have seperated sacks in seperate containers also. my DH shreds, I just put mine out unless I cut out label for reuse as a return label or to go on a dish taken to a potluck. I usually keep some leftovers that smell in the trash by the time they try to rummage, lol. I recycle my cans and bottles and plastic. But the streets are full of illegals or those needing alcohol fixes the next day, looking for cans. Only finding cardboard and newspapers in mine. Sad thing there is that they make so much noise with the carts that is wakes up all the houses and the dogs. But there are some that come around in expensive cars and get bottles and cans out of recycle bin and toss in the back of the vehicles...do not know how they can get enough to pay for the gas those cars and suvs use. And our drivers are driving beat up trucks suddenly that smoke bad and the drivers are illegals and can barely speak good spanish. I often think they are really phoney and just go around looking for stuff to pick up...they sometimes sit for an hour on one street or another. DH says they are waiting for call on cell from another driver to come get stuff to recycle. It is a sad sad day coming.

Our main "vent" was the cost...Our's went up over double a month, so now DH and I are using the sr. citizen tags and recycling more...We've always separated the glass, plastic and cans and now also the newspaper...And I'm getting a shredder the next time I'm out...We have alot of information from the banks etc. and not thinking,my DH would just throw in the trash, but not any more...I love the idea of putting stuff with the cat litter...With 4 cats, we have plenty of that!

they have to dig thru dirty kitty litter for mine..they're more than welcome...we make sure there's some in every bag!

the shredder is a good idea and also put those shreds in the bag with the used kitty litter!!

I never put paper items in my trash especially things with my name on them. My garbage is mostly kitchen stuff and cat litter. I recycle paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and cans. I don't use my composter anymore because of the rats found in our neighbourhood this summer.

I use grocery store bags for my garbage and have it hanging on a hook on my landing out of reach of the cats and dog. As soon as it is full, I tie it up and put it in the plastic garbage pail outside my side door and take the pail to the curb on garbage day. I put my bag of cat litter in my neighbour's Herby Kerby with his permission because sometimes the garbage man won't take away the trash if he sees a bag of it in the pail. We are supposed to bury it and not put it in the garbage but who does that?

Tonight though because it is still windy I got a big green garbage bag and went outside and took all the grocery bags of garbage out of the pail and put them into the bag and out to the curb. I put the cat litter in it too. LOL The garbage man tends to leave the pail on the road instead of my lawn.

My pet peeve about the garbage man is why do they always break my pails. I am one person and don't have a lot of garbage so my pail isn't heavy. They break the handles off, or they toss it so much that the sides break. I can't use my wheeled garbage pail anymore because the handles have broken off and they took away the lid. LOL I use a shorter green plastic pail now and they even broke this one.

Anne

We don't have trash pickup out here in the country. We could have it, but at $30 a month with a once-a-week pickup, I think that's too high. So we recycle everything we can and about once a month we take a large bag of trash to the county's trash compactor. We pay about $3, once a month and drop the bag into a big hole at the end of the building, no one is going thru that stuff, they'd need a ladder and rope.

Back when we did have pickup, in FL, it was common to see people come by the night before and take away your things for themselves. I didn't mind, I was tossing it out, if they wanted a broken pot that was OK with me.