Is it illegal to remove aluminium cans from other peoples recycling bins?
Yes, it is illegal. That is a standard clause written into the language of waste removal franchises issued by most cities and counties. It is one way those collection companies can keep cost down and process all the rest of the non-profitable items to be recycled. However, there may be a loophole. Ask your neighbors! There was one enterprising young man in my neighborhood for a few years that did that. He came by one week on the evening before trash day. He asked if he could go through my recycle bins. In return, he offered to take all the bins (trash, recycle, yard waste) down to the street for me. Then once a week I would get a knock on my door. He would smile and let me know he was here and going through my bins, and remind me if there was any more trash that needed emptied. I am not sure how far down the road he went. Every week I would see him dragging huge bags away. He bought himself a pickup by the time he graduated high school.
Yes. In many cities and counties around the country, it is an infraction or a misdemeanor (petty theft) to take aluminum from the recycling bin of somebody else. It is considered that the recyclables are the property of the recycling company that has the municipal contract. For those companies, it may be a loss of thousands of dollars per year. It is doubtful that anyone usually gets prosecuted; however, it is still a crime on the books. Aluminum cans are increasing in value, so more and more organized groups are stealing recyclables. And this will attract more police attention to these thefts.
Technically, they are the property of the waste disposal company, so it’s stealing; and if you have to enter someone else’s property, that’s trespass. You can’t normally be arrested just for trespass because it’s only a civil tort, not a crime; but if you were stealing, then it could count as breaking and entering. And while it is ordinarily a defence to theft that the owner intended to destroy the article (theft = intent to permanently deprive, but you were only *temporarily* depriving them of it — for however long it would have taken for them to destroy it — therefore not theft), it won’t work in cases where the destruction is incidental to the Rightful Purpose. (Such as melting down an aluminium can to sell the metal for money.) It could be argued that you are stealing the value of the cans from the local council. (It could also be argued that anyone who puts aluminium cans in the non-recyclable rubbish for landfill is stealing the scrap value of the cans +plus+ the cost of buryin
