Since the introuduction of the Return and Earn Scheme it’s not uncommon to see economical savvy scavengers rummaging through your bins, but as it becomes normalised the question begs, is it legal?
As the saying goes, one’s trash is another’s treasure and while most Lane Cove locals seem okay with people seeking their fortune through their bins once they are to the kerb, others have recently showed their reservations.
Residents recently reported seeing a string of people outside of the familiar bottle collectors going through their bins earlier this year. Suspicions arose as the individuals were wearing formal corporate wear, rather than the rubber gloves and aprons worn by the usual crew.
The wearers also had no collection bag, which was unusual as collectors usually have trolleys for cans and bottles.
There could be a myriad of reasons for the unwelcome strangers, however, a sinister suggestion may be identity theft. Information found through bins is what happens in many such cases. Wearing formal clothes can avoid suspicions of wrong doing as the guise looks as though the sticky-fingered thief is dropping off rubbish before work.
High Vis vests can also be used, making it seem the perpetrator is an employee working on-site.
So, is this invasion of privacy legal? The identity theft, no, but there isn’t much local governments can do about the bin rummaging.
Lane Cove Council said there are no rules or penalties in place for rummagers caught rummaging through bins once they are on the kerb as it is public land. If people were trespassing and going through bins on private land, this would be a police matter.
To avoid issues such as identity theft, ITC recommends shredding items with identifying information – for example communications from financial institutions containing account information, medical records that contain your name and date of birth etc. The Sydney Library of Things now has an industrial shredder and members can shred items at the Lane Cove Sydney Library of Things.
The library is at 47 Burns Bay Road – email [email protected] for more information. The shredded paper is then recycled for use with chicken bedding.
Why Are People Fishing For Bottles?
The Return and Earn Scheme was introduced in 2017 and has been a trending success ever since. The goal of the scheme is to reduce the amount of waste going into landfills by placing a 10c refund value on certain plastic containers which is paid to the collector once it’s recycled at a designated refund machine or plant.
Over 17 billion plastic containers have been collected from kerbs or dropped off at return points across the state accumulating over $1.7 billion in refunds to the community.
Lane Cove even has its own Return and Earn facility where punters can either drop off or organise for their bottles to be picked up by Lane Cove Return and Earn.
“We’ve got a system where we can chuck everything into a big tub, and it just separates them through the back, so it’s a speedier service and more efficient. And that’s between the hours of 8 am till 4 pm, Monday to Friday,” the facility manager, Eddie Canciani, told ITC.
“We do have just two machines, but we’re pretty quick in how the service is provided. So they’re usually depending on how many things people have. If it’s just 100 bottles, it’s less than a minute, if you’ve got like 3000 bottles, probably like 20 minutes or so.”
You can read more about how to get involved in Lane Cove’s Return and Earn scheme in our article here.
Sharing Bins Isn’t For Everybody
Despite ‘bin divers’ becoming normalised – the bottle seekers rather than the identity shifters – and the vast majority seeming to be okay with the action, not everyone has been so quick to accept this new reality. Residents in the Lane Cove Chat Facebook group have voiced their concerns against noisy and messy collectors.
“We’ve had very noisy can collectors turning up at 4 am in a van and going through the streets in LCW. Different issue I know but getting really over it,” One local typed.
“Does not really matter who they are, should be something formally done about the bin divers in general,” another cited, referring to the formally dressed trash nabbers.
“Yes, has been happening to us in Lane Cove North sadly. They leave a mess,” another voiced on the same post.
In any case, if you’re feeling uncomfortable about people going through your trash, be sure to shred any important information. You could also separate your containers or perhaps tape a sign to your bin asking neighbourhood collectors to find their treasure elsewhere.
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