Trashmen Like In The Can

Today was trash day, and after several weeks of tests of a theory, I've concluded that garbagemen prefer metal cans to plastic.

At my apartment building, the slumlord does not provide trashcans. I had to buy my own. I don't really care so much, except that my lousy neighbors always put their junk in my can (let's see if THAT brings my google rating up!!). There used to be a few plastic cans along the curb, but they eventually fell apart. Two other people in my building also own their own cans, but the majority of my neighbors prefer to leave their trash exposed to the animals that love to shred and scatter or use someone else's receptacle.

Now I don't mean to be hatin' here, but I bought three trashcans, and expect to be able to use them. If I don't retrieve my cans from the alley by mid-afternoon of trashday, there is a guarantee of someone elses garbage bags being found in my cans! I cleary marked the cans in spraypaint (I even used a big stencil) with my apartment number on the sides of the cans as well as on the lids. Again, I can get on with a communal attitude, but if I buy said cans, I should be able to use them, right? Crappy neigbors!

But I digress...

I own 3 cans: one regular sized plastic, one large plastic, and one regular sized metal (Oscar the Grouch style). Some weeks I only need to use one, some weeks all three. The number I need depends on how much I clean out my apartment on a given week, and if I remember to take the trash out at all for a pickup. You get the picture.

Anytime I use the plastic cans, I have to go up and down the block to retrieve them. They are always on their sides, rolled into the middle of the alley or mixed in with the cans two buildings over. This never occurs with the metal can. Everytime I use the metal can, it is replaced exactly back in the spot where I left it, sometimes with the lid on top!! The phenomenon occurs no matter what the weather, so I know it must be deliberate. The only conclusion I can draw is that Garbagemen have a respect, or some affinity, for metal trashcans.

Is a metal can some sort of status symbol in the trash world? I have no idea. It's probably a stupid question. Pretend I didn't ask. Still, I'm just glad that someone respects my shiny metal can. My neighbors can bite it.