In an interesting article in the LA Times ^[1]today, Tony Barboza writes about some residents in the Wilshire Square area of Santa Ana being fed up with people going through their recycle bins.

So much so that they have signed up for a city program that provides them with containers originally built to withstand scavenging bears. Except the locks didn’t quite hold up to bears, but they’re hoping they will withstand a homeless person or two.

Resident Paula Faccou is quoted as saying:

“It just scared the living heck out of me,” said the 67-year-old retiree. “A complete stranger, standing outside. It was very brazen, and that’s pushing it too much. They have told me, ‘What’s your problem, lady? It’s just trash,’ but I pay for trash service. . . . I should decide where it goes.”

I have to say I’m ambivalent about the issue. I’m not sure that I’m cool with people taking something that someone has not intended for them, i.e. recycling that the property owners want the city to take care of, for themselves and their own personal profit. On the other hand, I understand that people are desperate, and you’d have to be fairly desperate to rummage through trashcans to make some money.

So, what you do you think?

photo courtesy of wikimedia commons ^[2]