Garbage Can Drama

I’m having some garbage can drama. Interestingly, it has nothing to do with taking it out, and everything to do with picking it up.

Things started a couple of months ago. It was garbage day, and I had two bins and one recycling bin sitting at the end of my driveway. We moved into our house in 2011, and we have always had two garbage cans and one recycling can.

Always.

This particular day, I was gone when the trash got picked up. When I came home, my recycling bin was gone. The whole thing had disappeared! Ugh.

I called the city and reported my stolen recycling bin. Later that night, I walked down my driveway and noticed a lone recycling bin waaaayyy down at a neighbor’s house.

Oh shoot.

I walked over and looked to see if they had all their garbage bins; they did. I had found my lost recycling can! Unfortunately, plans had already been set in motion, and a new recycling bin was left on my driveway the next day.

Now we had four cans: two for garbage and two for recycling. It was a little excessive.

I kept all four cans for a few weeks. Finally, I decided to fill out the form online so that they could pick up my extra recycling bin.

The designated day for pickup was June 16. I was ready. I rolled out my usual three cans and set the extra one off to the side, so they’d be sure to take the right bin.

Well…

They left the extra recycling can and took the second garbage can instead! GAH!

I emailed my contact at the city. Looking at my account, she said we were only paying for one garbage bin and one recycling bin, so that’s all we could have, unless we wanted to pay more. I asked how much the extra recycling can was costing? Nothing!Recycling cans are free, apparently.

The little garbage can saga ended today, when they finally picked up my second recycling can.

Now we have two cans total, and it feels a little sad, honestly. Three cans make great obstacle courses, and awesome ladders for little kids to reach basketball hoops and trees. We have had three garbage cans for 10 1/2 years.

And yes, I could pay for another garbage can…but I don’t want to. I guess we will just have to get used to our new normal. 😜

Goodbye extra garbage can!