nosy neighbor keeps going thru my trash?

Question

I would like to put something in my trash bags to let my evil, nosey, neighbor know I'm fed up with her going thru my trash. Talking to her hasn't helped, and putting the trash somewhere else isn't an option.

Answer 1

i'd write her a love letter and leave it in the garbage, explaining how i've always harbored feelings for her and i KNOW she feels the same because she continues to try to feel close to me by going through the very personal contents of my garbage. my letter would invite her to forget my garbage and explore the contents of my heart on a much more personal level. it SHOULD sufficiently creep her out...

Answer 2

Wow your neighbor is a FREAK!! Have you considered moving?

It sounds like anything disgusting will not work, since dosn't seem to mind rooting through trash. If you can't keep it all inside until trash day (when the big smelly truck rolls through town), I would suggest investing in some liquid plastics or lots and lots of cheap glue. Whenever you get ready to take the bag out, pour on a whole bunch of it. (Like a gallon!) It will stick everything together and make it useless, unreadable, etc.

On a legal note: Shred or burn credit card statements, bank statements, or any other personal information. Your creepy neighbor might be trying to brench out into credit card fraud or identity theft.

Legal note 2: The US Supreme Court decided many years ago that trash, once it left the house, was not private and could be rooted through at will by anyone. Thus calling a lawyer or police officer would be no help.

Answer 3

Just to let you know - I had a neighbor that would do this to me, and I called the police to tell them about it and the SGT there told me that it IS NOT a law that people can't go through your trash. I told her that didn't make any sense. She said (and I quote) "well, obviously you don't want it any more because it is in the trash so what is the problem with him going through it?" I could not believe my ears. I asked her if it was okay for him to break into my house too and look in my garbage can. She said that if it bothered me that he went through my trash, to collect all of the trash and carry it out to the garbage man when he arrives instead of putting it out in the cans before trash day.

I would say to start putting spaghetti sauce and things like that (soda, half eaten candy, ice cream, etc.) in the bags so that when she goes to look through it she gets all dirty and sticky.

Answer 4

What is your neighbor looking for? Some people go thru trash for the purpose of picking up usables like furniture and cleaning them up and then either take them to salvation army or sell them on eBay. Perhaps she has taken notice that you buy good things and junk them while they still have use in them.

Other people go thru the trash because they are hungry.

Still other people go thru the trash of others to secure important papers to get information about their neighbor, like SS numbers and other personal information so as to steal their identity. In this case I would suggest if you're putting important info into your trash that you buy yoursel a $19 shreader and shread all your paperwork first. If she still persists then it's probably for the reasons stated in paragraph 1 and 2.

I would suggest that you check with your county/city and ask if "dumpster diving" is illegal. It is illegal here and if she's caught (maybe on video tape) it's criminal and you can press charges. I would also suggest that before you turn her in that you be sure she's doing it for bad purposes. If she's doing it just to help out poor people, maybe to remain friendly neighbors you might want to save your discards (clean out personal data first) for her.

Answer 5

no because if the scent is intruding onto their resources and motives an interference of their use and luxuriate in land they have each and every precise to call the police officials. The police officials although can't search for your position and not using a warrant so do not enable them in, yet some thing your pals can do is sue you because of the nuisance. Your perfect guess is to attempt to exercising consultation some association or through some form of air flow equipment which will remove a number of the scent. wish this facilitates.

Answer 6

Just FYI it is not illegal to go through someone's trash. Reporters do it all the time so calling the police will not help. I guess the idea is that it has been discarded so you are releasing your ownership of the items. This is yucky, but I think poo, poo or used pads/tampons on the top might work....

Answer 7

sure you go to the ink shop and buy some invisible ink, long lasting....place it on an old bill or write a love letter (fake one) and place ink on the lid of the trash all in side and on your mail box after the mail has run, could even place on the cement in front of the house...so mess up the bottom of her shoes, if all this doesn't work I'd call the police and who knows what this person would do next.......good luck

Answer 8

There are potentially two legal points here. First is possible trespass, intruding on the "curtilage" (I think that's the legal term-the house and private environs.) The second is "reasonable expectation of privacy". I think it would be different in a situation where the subject has put his/her garbage can at the curb in anticipation of pickup (outside of the "curtilage") as opposed to storing it behind their backdoor, for instance. Any potential value of the trash is irrelevant.

Taking trash from garbage cans placed out for collection before the collection company comes by to obtain information on subjects of investigation. Trash has no value so therefore it is not theft, ie., taking the property of another that has value.

Dumpster diving, waste archeology, or trashing, all refer to rifling garbage in an effort to cull valuable information. This is believed to be the number one method of business and personal espionage.

Surprise! In and of itself, stealing garbage is legal. On May 16, 1988 the U. S. Supreme Court confirmed that there is no expectation of privacy, or ownership, once an item is left for garbage pickup. However there are some State, County and City Codes that prohibit certain
activities on, near or around dumpster locations.

Whether or not something is of value is not relevant.

In the civil court the person who mucks around in the garbage smells to a jury like another, similar creature, the rat. Legal or not, only in cases where one truly has
a moral high ground is such an invasion of personal space lauded. In most cases envolving the theft of trash it is obvious that the thief is not competent to actuate a real investigation.

Everyone must consent to being used by another. This is because each is important, valuable in his or her own right. And if an individual is important as such, then there is a sphere that constitutes the individual's realm of sovereignty and others ought to respect it, the realm within which one must make effective judgments about one's life. And indeed in classical liberal, political, and legal theory there's a great deal of emphasis on individual rights rather than rights of families or other groups, bearing on this individualist element of the position. The right to private property is, in turn, the most practically relevant of those individual rights.

The term "privacy," then, underlines this emphasis of the importance of individuals. The right to private property is really just an extension, within the framework of a naturalist world view, of the right to one's own life. It is when one('s life) engages with the rest of the world in the unique way one will do so, and when another will do this in his or her unique way, then privacy becomes important.(7) It will then be possible to actualize and to protect who one is and one's manifestation in the world--one's own art, productivity, creativity, innovation and so forth. None of those, as well, may be used by others without the individual's consent to whom they belong.

One reason that it must be shown that the social regulative principle of a right to private property is sound and that it ought to be respected and protected in human community life is that it is a vital conceptual or logical implication of the individualist story. If individualism is indeed sound, so is the principle of private property rights. When the right to private property is not respected and not sufficiently protected, then there is something wrong with a community.

This means that it is not quite fit for human inhabitation, given the individuality of every person and how respect for this is a precondition for his or her flourishing.

Answer 9

Once your garbage goes to the curb, it's public domain. Shred any mail or documents before disposal. You might add the contents of your cat box if you have a cat, or over ripe leftovers from the fridge. If I was in your shoes, this would no longer be a problem. Use your imagination, you are probably thinking along the same lines as me.

Answer 10

It is not an offense to go through another's trash...once placed outside the home for pickup it is public domain.

Try buying a home paper shredder and at least shred all your mail and personal documents..........

At least then you will protected from her prying eyes into your REAL personal business.

Answer 11

I had several like that! If it is in your yard, call the police and have her arrested. Otherwise place stinky old food, cat poo, carcasses of road kill, broken glass, in yours....Or here's one, ramble through hers, get something she may have worn and pretend to have a voodoo doll with the item. Spray the can with essence of Skunk! Have some friends come over and dress up like a voodoo priestess that outta fix her. Get a camera and record the mayhem for laughs!