
Yesterday my husband came in and told me he wanted me to see what he found at the bottom of our driveway. I assumed we needed to go pick up trash strewn by some critter or other who got to our bags before the trash people got here. I went out to the garage to find

a trash receptacle left by our trash service! I’ve seen the cans before, but I figured that we didn’t get one because we aren’t in the city limits and that rural people would just go on as usual. You can see that the new receptacle makes our ‘heavy-duty, extra-large’ ACE trash can on wheels look like a small waste paper can. I think this should easily hold the two leaf bags of trash we usually gather in a week.
There are a couple of concerns at this point –
CONCERN ONE – The thing is heavy. It’s meant to be kept in a garage, or close to the house, filled up and then rolled out to the end of the driveway to be picked up. We have a 650+ foot long, STEEP, gravel-covered, bumpy driveway. There is no ‘rolling it’ down to the bottom of the driveway. It will take both of us to lift it into the back of our truck, then out again at the bottom of the driveway, muscling it over to the place we leave our trash. It will be easier to get it back into the truck when it’s empty, but I’m not at all sure I can do it by myself.
A friend wrote recently, suggesting my husband make an enclosure for our trash bags at the bottom of the driveway – keeping the bags safer from critters. My husband wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea, but I’m NOW thinking of re-introducing that idea, so we could leave the container at the bottom of the driveway, driving our trash down as usual and putting it in the container. He probably won’t like that idea, either, but I’ll mention it.
CONCERN TWO – The paper that came with the container says our trash is supposed to be left for pickup by 5am the day of pickup. That would mean we would have to leave the trash down there overnight. I’m not at all sure this container is heavy enough to withstand critters trying to pull it over in order to get at the ‘goodies’ inside. (THIS refers to the DISCUSSIONS we’ve had that are ongoing about when to leave our trash….. )
With all the problems in the world, you would think that TRASH wouldn’t even be CONSIDERED, and yet, some marriages have dissolved because one person stubbornly leaves the cap off the toothpaste tube…