Should I report it (the clip) to the cop or the city Public Utilities?
A couple of months ago, I got extra charge from the city public utilities reason: my trash can was over full (lid was opened)
At that time, I didn’t have the camera. So I had to pay the extra charge. Now to think about it, probably it was the same neighbor dumped their trash into my trash can.
You could dispute the extra charge, but without video of that time to be able to prove that that instance was the neighbor, that’s up to their discretion, I would guess.
The vigilant me would place a OGTele aimed at my garbage can If this was an issue at my house. Another thing you can do, but it could be a hassle, is to put your garbage can out at the last moment before pickup.
I do have a driveway approach OGT that kind of gets my garbage can when it’s at the end of the driveway, could be repositioned to better see the cans if there was an issue.
You may also want to talk to your neighbor and explain why you don’t want them to use your trash can. Sometimes, a friendly conversation can resolve the issue without escalating it to legal action and creating a grudge and further retaliation and harassment and legal passive aggressive behavior or social sabotage to make your life worse.
I would talk to him, friendly first. If that doesn’t work, then you can resort to legal action. Since you pay for trash pickup and it’s assigned to your property, some cities will consider this theft of services. Because the neighbor should be paying for a second trash can if one is not enough for him.
Usually, I personally wouldn’t and don’t mind if somebody puts trash in my trash can. If I have a lot of extra room or like when somebody’s dog goes to the bathroom on my lawn and they pick it up and throw it away in the nearest trash can. I’m okay with that. But I would not be okay with somebody doing something to the point where I’m getting charged and punished for what they’re doing. This neighbor may not know that you even got charged and may not realize that they caused a problem or that you’re not okay with it.
For me personally, I would probably take my neighbor some treats or something, and stop by to deliver it as a friendly gesture and then while I’m there and after some small talk let them know, "hey, by the way, a while ago the city fined me for my trash being too full because somebody else put extra trash in there… so I got a camera to see where it was coming from and noticed that you had been putting trash in my garbage can. I know you probably thought it wasn’t a big deal and maybe in some ways it’s not, but I wanted to ask you if you would stop using my garbage can especially since I already got fined for it by the city. I’d really appreciate that.
But that’s me. Retaliation and pissing off neighbors more can become a decades long grudge feud and the other person might be more willing to escalate beyond what you think would be reasonable or fair, including setting you up and lying about you, maybe swatting you anonymously to endanger you and your family, who knows. It’s not worth it when there are alternatives to get the real desired result, which is hopefully they’ll respect and stop doing it since you asked them nicely. And now they will know that you have a camera to see every time they do it. And if they don’t respect it, then you can escalate with legal options and explain to the cops that you tried to resolve it nicely and they’ll be much more likely to intervene.
Two now its happened huh? Looks like some long term prevention or alert is going to be necessary to plan for today for the future. If that distance is simply too far for a Wyze sensor, you could look at the Yolink contact sensor which has a 1/4 mile range. That will certainly put your can and if necessary others within range. You would need the Sensor ~$20 and the Hub ~23. But you will have what you need.
The contact sensor is like a window sensor. One on the lid, one on the can. And alert you via Alexa or your phone that its been opened once set. That will tell you to save the video on your camera.
I totally agree with @carverofchoice and that approach.
The biggest problem I have with the scenario and your neighbor… C’MON MAN!!! This is common sense, and I am sure they did what they did for the very same reason you were charged. It appears as if their trash can is on the verge of overflow and that one more bag would have caused a charge for them.
And who knows what’s in their trash? Could be some things you don’t want in there.
Of course, the goofball in me says to take it out set it on their porch with a note and a printed picture of them doing it that says, “Thanks, got my own trash, don’t need yours. Have a great day” But that probably goes back to Carvers comment about feuding. Even though they should not have done it in the first place out of respect.
Hey I may be SAYING things about not escalating a feud, but those are just words, you’re the one who has proven it with ACTIONS after being WAY nicer to the people who blew up your mailbox than my reaction told me I would be 
I guess you know a thing or 2 about de-escalating potential feuds with the receipts to prove it. 
Yea, well… My thoughts and actions are 2 different things 
It’s quite amazing how people’s attitudes change when they know they are caught and they cannot deny their poor decision making.
An older lady in our HOA was getting up early and feeding the feral cats. Resident Manager asked her several times to stop. The person that was out walking early saw her and took a picture. The picture was posted on the common area consolidated mailbox bulletin board. Everybody saw it. She wrote a short, I’m sorry" apology on the poster where her picture was. And she stopped. Sometimes peers knowing too help.
Surprisingly Unpopular opinion, but IMO the only thing HOA’s are good for are for common maintenance or shared amenities (swimming pools, parks, etc). They go too far when they are telling you what you can do with your own house, what color and type of curtains/shades you must use. One HOA required every resident wear polos and khakis bi-annually (during scheduled HOA garage sale days). Whether you can have potted plants at your house. Banning blue trampoline covers because ducks might mistake them for water. They can even rule together whether a person can live there or not for any reason and FORCE you to sell your home. There are even instances of HOA board members giving ridiculous unpayable fines, then when they can’t pay it, legally STEALING people’s homes for $1 and then reselling it for their own gain. Lots of craziness. I will never live in an HOA. Now, I have owned and rented out condos in an HOA, and my wife was on an HOA board, so I do know a thing or 2 about them, but IMO they should only have a say over things like what needs to be repaired, especially for safety and such things. They should not be telling people they all must buy special kind of velvet drapes at a specific store, etc. But even worse is how expensive HOA fees are. Like, my brother is paying something like $800/month to his HOA. I was just dumbfounded what a rip-off it is. That is all money lost that he doesn’t get to keep or recover later in equity or anything. I’ve owned houses/condos with a full mortgage payment for that amount. It’s like paying a second mortgage, except you lose all that money instead of investing it.
Can you tell that I am totally anti-HOA? If something is legal in the city, the HOA shouldn’t be making extra ridiculous neighborhood laws IMO, and they shouldn’t be so expensive either. I’d MUCH rather live somewhere where the City gets to decide everything about my neighborhood laws, rather than Karen next door telling me I have to have the same purple drapes she uses and force that on everyone else. Naw…I’m out.
To me, it takes a lot of nerve to put your trash in someone else’s bin without permission. As mentioned above, it looks like his bin was full and knew it he put it his, he would have been fined. I hope in this case, you are not fined due to his actions. But if you are, you now have the evidence you need.
I’m lucky. In my city, we don’t have to place out trash/recycling bins at the curb. The trash men drive around in smaller trucks and back into my driveway to empty the can manually. I just leaved them a little tip at Christmas as a thank you.
Years ago our old neighbors let their bushes grow over our driveway. There were thorns and bees in the bushes. We had to literally move the bushes away from our car when we wanted to open the car door.
My wife finally had enough, so she and I got out and trimmed everything that was hanging over our driveway.
The neighbors (unmarried) came home and she raised holy he#%. My wife and the neighbor lady got into a screaming match. She went in on my wife beng overweight, so my lovely bride shot back “no wonder he won’t marry you. Because you are a bit€h”.
They moved about a month later.
Most city laws are on your side for that one. Anything that hangs over your property can be trimmed by you. It is simply common courtesy that the person who owns the foliage should trim it themselves to prevent that, or ask the neighbor if they like/want it, but it is usually common law that you have the right to trim anything over the line of your property and the other person should definitely not complain about it…they should’ve been courteous enough to offer to do it themselves first (though they are not obligated to do so). Entitlement issues will be a long struggle in this country’s culture.
Perhaps you should place your trash can on the other side of your driveway so your rude neighbor will have to walk further with intent to drop his trash in your can. I would be extremely careful approaching him about his actions. I would not point out your camera’s video either. Yet, should you get charged again I would grab additional neighbors and Share with them how you’re getting charged; is anyone else? A neighborhood watch…for trash dumping.
Yes, I would also start putting my garbage can on the other side of the driveway now.
One additional strategy is to try to fill your trash can to to top each pickup day. I keep what I call clean junk bagged up in my garage to fill up my trash can. I would hope the OP’s neighbor would not want to over fill the OP’s can if he saw the lid slightly popped up like the neighbor’s lid…It is a great way to de-clutter. Speaking for myself, I have lots of clutter.
I do the same thing…though only to prioritize, because I want to make sure all the “dirty junk” goes first…I have 2 trash bins and 1 recycle bin, and we are still full sometimes …gotta love all those delivery boxes.
That’s the problem…neighbor already overfilled the trash bin once and caused OP to get a fine…so that apparently didn’t stop anything like we would hope. I think it would just cause OP to get more fines.
I still maintain the first best option is to try to ask in a FRIENDLY way. After that, if you need to go a step up because he won’t stop and wanted to go the passive aggressive, then put his trash bags back ON TOP of his trash can every time, or back on his yard. Though, I would rather suggest official legal routes if the friendly option doesn’t work, as well as warning the other neighbors that you caught him on camera doing it (maybe show them the video), and he’s probably going to do it to them to get fined too, so you just wanted to give them a heads up to watch their trash can.
I’d hate to hear of an unnecessary escalation though. I always say to give them a chance. If they don’t respond well, then execute project negative karma after that.
Very true. My idea may help with de-cluttering but not with overfilling the OP’s trash can.
The story of this morning…
law-abiding citizen?
