11 Garbagemen Share What Their Pet Peeves Are About All of Us

Let’s face it—throwing out our garbage isn’t something we all necessarily think too much about. Everything you want to get rid of, you just throw it in a trash bag and put it out for the garbagemen to deal with, right?

Well, garbagemen have feelings too. And our lousy decisions can really affect their job and day in general. In fact, a recent Reddit thread blew up with garbagemen sharing about what their biggest pet peeves are about everyone who puts their trash out. Oof—we’re definitely guilty of some of these!

  1. Not Breaking Down Cardboard Boxes

    “Break down your cardboard boxes please and thank you.”

  2. Using Cheap Garbage Bags

    “If you can afford to not use dollar store garbage bags, please do so. They tear super easy to and make a goddamn mess that I then needed to clean up.”

  3. Throwing Away Glass

    “Broken glass goes in a taped up box, not the garbage bag. No one likes getting stabbed by random glass hidden in a garage bag.”

  4. . Trying to Get Rid of Bigger Items in the Trash

    “We can’t always collect mattresses, long pipes, pallets, etc. Please understand that we don’t make those decisions. Some are made by our bosses, others by the laws of physics.”

  5. Not Giving Cans Proper Space

    “If you have two cans, space them at least three feet apart.”

  6. Not Using Bins Correctly

    “If general waste goes into a cardboard collections bin, for example, the whole lot of cardboard waste has to go to general disposal instead of recycling. Worst case scenario, if you’re disposing of solvents, oil etc. instead of doing the right thing and taking them to the local dump (or arranging a specific pickup of hazardous goods), you could cause a fire. And it should go without saying but…please don’t dispose of explosive materials in general waste!”

  7. Putting Chemicals in the Trash

    “Every year my boyfriend and his coworkers get gassed and end up with chemical burns because people are too lazy to look up how to properly dispose of chemicals. Stop! It’s so dangerous and only takes 5 minutes to look up the right way to get rid of it.”

  8. Not Rinsing Out Your Can

    “Getting covered in hot garbage juice and maggots is disgusting and the smell is incredibly difficult to get rid of. You don’t have to scrub your can out, just hose out the inside at least once every summer.”

  9. Trying to Throw Things Out Without a Bag

    “Everything in your can should be in a bag: Dog sh*t, cat litter, feminine hygiene products, cigarette butts and ashes, etc.”

  10. Hiding Car/Motorcycle Batteries in the Trash

    “I’m sorry you don’t want to dispose of it properly, but it’s going to be a bad day for you and me when I have to dump my entire truck’s contents on your street because you or your neighbor’s trash didn’t play nice and started a chemical fire, and I didn’t want the truck to explode.”

  11. Not Being Cognizant of Weight

    “Don’t hide a boulder at the bottom of your can. Throw it in your neighbors yard like the rest of us.”

Do you break any of these trash rules?