The 'Green' Thief

Elicar: 17th Mar 2006 - 03:23 GMT

Editor, my title disappeared. It was orginally titled, The "Green" Thief.

designwallah: 20th Mar 2006 - 18:17 GMT

I spray-painted my address on my bins, no one's stolen them yet.

Elicar: 21st Mar 2006 - 16:49 GMT

An update. I went to Crappy Tire to replace my two recycling boxes. It was $24 including taxes. I am going to buy a BB gun for that green thief!

S: 24th Mar 2006 - 02:19 GMT

Is it possible these bins are being blown down the road by the wind?. Why waste the money buying new recycling boxes. Just use a cardboard box or put the stuff in clear plastic bags.

Elicar: 24th Mar 2006 - 04:39 GMT

Anthing is possible. Your suggestion is sound, however, where would I get an endless free supply of cardboard boxes? Plus, a box of 80 clear blue bags cost $8.00. Just add $2.00 so theplastic box is still more practical.

Incidentally, a man seeing me carrying all these recycling boxes advised me to do what designwallah says as his have been stolen too!

Elicar: 25th Mar 2006 - 01:44 GMT

Gee, the "green" thief could be affecting my life more than the $50.00 I spent for replacements. I have to change my lifestyle now. Shop at No frills or Price Choppers, hail a cab everytime I shop since I am regular urbanite who ditched driving long time ago, otherwise, I'll have to carry the box on my head.

Each one's life circumstance is different. What works for one does not necessarily mean it works for the other. Besides, the recycling boxes are recycled plastics too. Having two is much more "green" than the 52 (one box for paper and one box for cans and plastic, for 26 weeks) boxes one would use a year, don't you think?

The fact is, someone or some people stole my recycling bins.

Heather: 17th Apr 2006 - 15:50 GMT

Strange!! Our green bin was "stolen" last week! Doesn't EVERYONE get a green bin??? Why do they have to steal another one??? My husband and I joked that we should get a chain installed on the sidewalk and tie them down.

Elicar: 17th Apr 2006 - 16:29 GMT

Welcome to the club, Heather. I suspect, it would be someone from your neighbourhood as I did mine. No one would like to be seen walking around with "used" recycling bins. It is also a pssibility that someone in a car had his/her stolen and did what Cameo had earlier suggested and stole yours. Mine couldn't be someone driving as I live near a busy intersection.

Heather: 17th Apr 2006 - 17:03 GMT

It's just crazy. We've also lost a couple recycling bins. Not sure how a house number painted on will help deter the thiefs but I'm going to try that. Off to the store tonight to buy a replacement - ugh! Was very tempted to take one of the 10 green bins sitting outside an apartment complex down the street! :)

jeeff: 17th Apr 2006 - 18:22 GMT

i say buy a smoke alarm and rip off the protective casing so that the electronics & red light bulb are fully exposed. then super-glue that to the side of your bin and spraypaint "securety system enstalled!" ...and hope it doesn't rain.

Elicar: 17th Apr 2006 - 19:46 GMT

Well, what I have done on mine is write my street number in permanent marker all over (make sure the marker stays on plastic). It is quite tacky looking right now, but I don't care. It's a recycling bin for crying out loud!

Now, if you see a recycling bin painted all over, that would be my recycling bin stolen again and they have painted it to hide the numbers. ;)

anon: 17th Apr 2006 - 19:57 GMT

We got together with a few of our neighbours and purchased big apartment size blue and grey bins two years ago... no one has stolen them since. We use to replace them every year, at least once for the previous 5 years. Now that summer is upon us, you can get them through The City of Toronto Environment Days .. The will be selling bin and such items for a very low fee, should you need to replace them. Albeit not a solution for the green bins, they will not be offering apartment size ones. Aaarrrrrgggghhhh.

Btw. each neighbourhood will have atleast one Environmment Day where you can drop off household items that are not able to go into the bins.. like computers, light blubs, batteries, cellphones, etc.

Recycling is good... even the thiefs seem to understand the benefit to the environment.

iman: 5th Apr 2007 - 01:55 GMT

man, that's stupid. they might have just thrown it on somebody else's yard, or used it to bust someone's mailbox like on Dazed And Confused. it's actually funny when you're not the victim, but someone has watched too much tv.

stella: 20th Apr 2007 - 17:09 GMT

Ours just got ripped off as well. I hope they enjoyed the twenty pounds of pet crap in it.

What neighborhood are you folks in? We live in Seaton Village/West Annex.

Off to buy a new green bin and some spray paint.

anon (bas5-toronto06-1279478508.dsl.bell.ca): 30th Dec 2007 - 02:00 GMT

horrible theives

jerry: 28th Sep 2009 - 16:39 GMT

the grey box is for garbage.....paper goes in the blue box with the recyc.'showever I heard a storey from a city employee that toronto blue,grey and green are a hot item in Florida and that they sell for $50 to $100 depending on size. ARE THE BORDER GUARDS AWARE OF THESE THIEFTS AND THE THE PEOPLE THAT STEAL THEM.