What bugs me is we have people that dig through our trash the night before trash day. Good idea to put with kitty litter. They’re not digging through cat litter.

I just cut mine in ten different pieces and put in the garbage.

I cut mine with scissors and dispose of it in different weeks.

It's just getting crazy. A few weeks ago our Discover card was hacked and several online purchases were made. A merchant called us and that's how we found out. Discover immediately voided them all and Fed exed us a new card in less than a day. A few minutes ago our PSCEU card was chacked and a bunch of online purchases were made which we again voided. A few merchants didn't honor the card and we will get a new card sent to us. What the heck can we do to protect ourselves? The cards never leave our possessions and we live alone with no one having access to them. We don't even use the ATM machine so it didn't happen there.

I use Elmer's method, and I split the pieces up between the various waste baskets in our house, including our 3 litter scooping buckets.

I sort of use Elmers method... and then I have pieces laying around for a few weeks, as I put them in the garbage between different pickup days.

Now for statements (the ones I still get) and other "sensitive" material, I shred it, and use it in the garden. :) If I have the need for dry material in the compost, it goes in there too.

Moni

Shredding is plenty enough. If you are worried, put half the shreds in the trash one week, the rest another week.

I did have a completely metal credit card a couple years ago. I wondered why it felt funny, and then when I put it in the shredder it only went halfway and stopped. DH was able to yank it out with pliers. The end that went in was all mangled but the shredder couldn't take the whole thing. The bank told me even they have to send them out to be shredded.

Same here Lily. Like Elmer said, we’re not liable, but it’s still a hassle so I try to be more vigilant when it comes to my personal information.

Normally I don’t have many to worry about. But this year every card was replaced with a new card that contains a chip. So in 2017 I had more to shred than normal.

JeCrigler, I'm sure that you're serious in your first post, but it did make me laugh.

I was quite surprised when I got a new Master Card in the mail. I called to verify the number and they said that they sent out new cards to everyone, as someone had their's compromised, so it was a safety, just-to-be-sure feature.

Rhizo, I’m 100% serious. I figured everyone would be as concerned as I am.

I cut mine up and burn them in the fire pit along with the paperwork that I shred that I no longer need.

Speaking of kitty litter. My pain management doctor told me if I had unused pills that I no longer needed to crush them up and mix them with clumping kitty litter and water to dispose of them.

I try to avoid problems if I can so I cut mine up and discard into numerous bags containing the yuckiest garbage.

My Visa card company is awesome and personal. I've had that card since the 1980's. It's been breached a few times, but always resolved. The people who I talk with on the phone assure me that they are in New England and and they speak flawless colloquial American English.

That's a very special issuer to do that, seagrass. I've known a number of native New Englanders over the years and how they talk could never have been described as flawless colloquial American English.

(kidding)

I cut mine in half through the numbers, then just use the scissors to shave little slivers off of what's left of the numbers on each side so the numbers are completely finely shredded. Then just toss...no way they could be re-assembled.

Shred or cut through the numbers. Shredded stays in the shredder 'til its full,
cut goes in the trash. All my cards are managed online so I don't have to wait for phones calls or mail for alerts.

Jecrigler - I am with you on the trash scavengers. We don't put out our trash 'til early morning but they even come up to the house and some have entered our neighbors back yards. Our side yard is too narrow to keep the bins behind the locked gate so we built a fence around the area we keep the cans to hide them from street view. I chase the scavengers off when i see them, One time it got so bad I found a pie of a severed hand online, enlarged and laminated it and taped it to the top of my recycle can. That sent the message to the "no speak english " fakers.

Joyfulguy... imagining this in background!

JeCrigler. I am very concerned! But I see zero need to go to the extremes that you suggested. That's what I was chuckling over....not making fun of you, just smiling.

Mine are cut with scissors several times then tossed in the trash with the kitchen trash as well as in the garage, which gets taken out very rarely.

We use the scissors and different trash days method.

I do exactly the same as olychick. Cut through numbers, maybe names too then a few more cuts and toss.

Watchme, is it legal to chase them away? We put our trash cans on the curb which I thought was city property. Now if they were at my house, that’s trespassing. I’d be very upset to find them in my backyard!!

Now the people that go through our trash drive up & down our street in a truck & they use big sticks to poke thru the trash. I think they are hoarders or collectors because they don’t pull out food. Just odd random things.

But on that note, I’ve seen many news clips showing some people do go thru trash to find personal information.

I have a lady friend that said they can take her personal information because her credit is worse than theirs and they won’t get a dime!

I just use a cross cut shredder. I don't bother to separate since I don't see how they could possibly make any sense of what's left.

When I read “trash scavengers” I was picturing raccoons...at least until the part about them driving trucks. :p

I just go out and tell them they are stealing and to go away. I don't fight them or anything. But I am firm. It's illegal for them to be rummaging through city bins so why would it be illegal for me to chase them off? We have had some problems in nearby streets with home and auto break-in and things. I have no need of anyone lurking around my home at night for any purpose.

They are looking for metals and anything recyclable. The recycle programs keep homeowner's waste costs down because the city makes money off them. When people take the valuable recyclables then the next time a contract is negotiated our bills go up. So we have skin in the game to keep theses thieves out of our neighborhoods.

Jenn, I get mad at the raccoons too cause they knock the whole can over!

Watchme, you have an excellent point. I never thought of it that way as we have a blue can for recycle and green can for normal trash. They go thru both.

Cut it in half and put in two different trash cans. Voided checks get torn into 4 pieces and placed in four different trash receptacles. Don't know why, just what I do! LOL!

I cut the card into several pieces. Some parts go into my recycling bin. Some into the compost bin. Some go in my garbage bin. I make sure to cut the chip into a few parts before it gets tossed.

I haven't had to shred a metal card...yet. I shred because cutting plastic cards hurts my arthritic hands -- and dulls the scissors.

Our city picks up garbage shortly after 7 a.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays, and recycling Fridays. Recycling must be at the curb, positioned so that the truck can grab and dump the big bin. They would come to our garage door for the garbage, but we just put our little can at the curb, along with the bin. We fill the bin in two weeks. If the garbage didn't start to smell, we could go a month or more. I'd like to see the city drop the twice weekly garbage pickups or charge households extra for that.

In my area, there are three bins - yard waste, recycling, and garbage- and they all go out the same day. I'd welcome and would gladly pay for more frequent garbage pickups, it would make it easier when we have company or parties. We sometimes have to make a midnight run to a local store's dumpster to get rid of excess garbage that won't fit in an already full bin.

This is scary that people go thru trash at curbs. I do enjoy finding something sitting out by the cans like the gorgeous gazebo birdfeeder I got a few weeks and last week a gigantic concrete antique urn, I know trash people drive thru our town looking for old appliances, lawnmowers, but in all my years, never saw them filtering thru stuff in the cans. As I said I cut all cards in many pieces but will start separating them and putting them in the dirty litter bags.

I have a couple of metal cards and when one of them was compromised, the bank sent out an envelope and they take care of disposal/recycle.

Really Elmer? You'd rather regularly pay more for twice a week service or risk a fine for illegal dumping rather than pay 6 bucks or so for an occasional extra garbage sticker?

Between the generous recycling bin with so many things allowed to go in there and a food waste disposal we hardly ever have a full 32 gallon can. Most weeks it's only half full.

No, it's a matter of convenience not cost. In my area, as far as I know you need to give the pickup company a 3 day advance notice for extra items but the charge is nominal. Pickup day is Tuesday, so that means calling on Friday or Thursday. Too soon to know, sometimes you can't anticipate having a problem.

I'm glad this bit of talk came up, I should look into it, they may have a sticker system or something I should know more about. Thanks.

In our area you can buy stickers at any public library and just keep a few on hand. The sticker is good for a 32 gallon filled trash bag. Check it out.

I'm reminded of an article in Redbook a very long time ago (70's) about a woman who wanted to control her spending habits. She eventually came up with the idea of freezing her credit cards in water in a Tupperware container. Not easily accessible, but who knows how usable they would be now if they were thawed with magnetic strips and chips??

I cut mine through the numbers then burn the pieces in our firepit. I also shred any sensitive material and use it to start fires in our firepit and our woodburner.

Elmer, I was able to get a second recycle can from our city. Also us neighbors will use each other’s cans if we have more garbage to fit in 1 can. Especially around the holidays you’ll see us walking to other blue cans to fill up.

Also when I have extra boxes I will wait til I see the recycle truck coming down the street & I will walk them out. When they pull up they let me throw them in the truck & not make me break them down.

Both yard waste and recycling are theoretically free in my area if you pay for a garbage bin and so for both you can put a reasonable amount of extra stuff in bags or boxes on top or alongside those bins. Unless we've gotten a lot of deliveries in cardboard boxes in a particular week or have been cleaning up, we never fill the recycling bin. Not with wine and beer bottles from get-togethers nor at times when we have houseguests.

When we moved, the first month there was a full trash bin every week and stuff on the curb that wouldn’t fit the bin even if it was empty. For the most part nobody had an interest in the extra junk but one week somebody came between the time the trash went out to the curb and Molly’s last walk for the night and took the extra stuff. The table/desk with the missing shelf piece and none of the hardware to put it together was part of the pile that they took. So weird. The trash service has recycling bins they will give out on request, but there are no recycling centers for a consumer to bring in things like aluminum cans to redeem here like there are in California.

We likely won’t be in need of a way to dispose of bank or credit cards for a while yet, keeping fingers crossed. :p

I don't think so many people bother to turn in beverage containers for the deposit anymore. It's so much more convenient and quicker to toss them into the home recycling bin and get rid of them easily. The material gets reused all the same either way. The amount of money involved isn't worth the bother.

We neighbors share space too. The agreement is not until morning . Once DH has left for work they are free to use our cans and vice versa. We do a lot of recycling. Mostly paper and card board and dog food cans plastics and glass. They also take shredded paper as long as it is bagged first so our shredder bin gets emptied every week. Same with fabric as long as it is clean and bagged. Even small appliances. It's a very consumer friendly recycling program. One of the few things done right in this city. ;-)

I don’t drink canned soda or beer anymore. But I do remember many years ago collecting them and putting them in a machine and getting a few dollars back. But I haven’t seen anything like that in our are for years.

Elmers right, easier to toss in the blue recycle can.

SoCal recycling has created a couple of business models; scrap yards with some open to the general public, and then there is the replanet-type which has independently staffed locations in grocery store parking lots with an attendant there to weigh the recycleables once you empty your bags into their wire trash barrels by type. Then they print out how much you get back on a receipt-like ticket that you take inside the grocery store to cash out. Most times I got around $20. For someone in college when they were doing the most recycling in their life, $20 is pretty awesome. :p

At 5 cents per <24 oz item, like a beer can or bottle, $20 would be 400 cans or bottles. 66 6-packs. To store that in a house (or how about in a condo or apt), and then lug in a car isn't an enticing proposition. Not even after a party. Which is why I think fewer bother to do it anymore.

College students do a lot of things that aren't continued into adult years, this is probably another one but way down on the list of extreme things.

I took my aluminum to local Replanet sites which always ran coupons for 1.68-1.88 per pound. The automated machines were the only way to redeem per can.

Takes about 32 pop/soda cans to make a pound ... that was worth about 50 - 75 cents a while back (at the scrap metal dealers, at the far end of town - but landlord goes there, on occasion).

I think it's some less, now, with reduced demand for resources.

Beer cans/bottles are 10 cents each ... at the beer store

As for "credit"/(debt) card ... I use mine infrequently.

Mostly use cash, partly because I believe the survey people that say people spend more when all that they have to complete a purchase is to wave a card, now.

And pay, ... later ... much of the time only paying part of the actual cost next month ... then a bit more the month after ... and on and on for a year or so (meantime paying 19 - 29% annual rate, calculated monthly, on the unpaid balance).

Great for the card issuer ... not so great for the card holder.

But ... when I put my money in the bank, they pay me about 2% interest (taxed at top rate - often about 25% rate, i.e. 0.5%), leaving me with about 1.5% return, after tax.

And ... there are two rats that eat my cheese:

1. One agency comes each year to everyone earning over about $11,000. that year, with a question, "How much income did you have last year?", and a statement, "We want part of it!".

2. The other rat, inflation, is running at average about 1.5 - 2%, recently.

Which leaves me with - nothing (or less).

ole joyful

We have a 10 cent deposit/return on cans here. Our local fire department has a canister for can donations which is where mine go.

There is a quirk in the law in most areas that once you put your garbage to the curb, it's in the public domain and you technically can't stop someone from going through it. If it bothers you so much, wait for the truck and bring it out then instead of leaving it on public property. Ones who really want to know will go through the landfills.

Here, there's no problem putting out some extra recycling. Most garbage haulers don't mind an extra bag or two but some, like mine, will charge extra if I put out extra bags. No need to call them unless it's something like an appliance or mattress. They'll pick it up and charge you for it on the next bill. The owner told me to go ahead and put out extra bags to get my business and I just call them up and they credit the extra charge. He told me specifically DO NOT just set it on the top because his drivers are so lazy they won't get out and toss the bags like they're supposed to. By putting the bags on the side, they have to get out. Otherwise they try to balance it into the truck and often it falls and makes a mess. Some small towns I know use a special bag you buy to put it in the City dumpsters. Don't get caught not using the bags. And most businesses around here now have put their dumpsters into locked buildings or behind walls because of too many people thinking its a free dumping site. It's a criminal charge (theft of service) and they do enforce it around here, as they should.