When one of our sons and his wife were in the process of cleaning out their apartment and throwing a lot of stuff out in preparation for the move to their new home, they decided that their old garbage can needed to be tossed…it was cracked and in ill repair. They put it out with the garbage only to return from work to find the garbage can still standing alongside the cans that they wished to keep. The same thing happened at the next garbage day. And the next. The garbage can goes out…with nothing in it…only to still be there when they return.

So the question is, how DOES one get rid of a garbage can? Short of getting out a chainsaw and slicing it into little pieces, that trash can is destined to stay on the curb and not become landfill somewhere in New Jersey, (because we all know everything winds up in New Jersey including Jimmy Hoffa.) The garbage men have a job to do and they take it very seriously. They do not want to take a garbage can by mistake and toss it into the crusher. They don’t want the residents running down the block after the garbage truck screaming “Bring that back! That’s my garbage can!! Okay, so it’s cracked and there’s no bottom in it, but hey, it still has a purpose in life!!”

So my advice was to just put that trashcan out on moving day at its place of honor on the curb, maybe with a sign attached “Pick Me!  Pick Me!”and drive away slowly. Maybe someone needs to invent a new concept…the disposable trash can.