Legal question - Is bin sifting legal?

Odd said:
From the perspective of a person who throws things away: whether there are legal niceties or not, once the item has been placed in the bin and the bin is exposed to the elements, in my opinion that item is public knowledge. Anyone can have the contents of my bin, they can just walk in through the front gate at night, open the bin and take bags out. Also, it can be interecepted anytime from the point of collection by the council until its final destination at some landfill.

For that reason I don't discard any of the following items:

Any bank/financial correspondence
Any health related documents
Any packing labels with my name and address on them
Any packaging materials with the sender's name and address on them
Any merchandise or commercial packaging related to forensics or firearms or ammunition
Any flight/travel information, conference leaflets, invitations
Any electronic storage device

All of the above get shredded. Basically anything that identifies me, connects me with another individual, or provides information about my future movements get wiped.

I assume that the bin is a portal into the public domain and I anonymise the rubbish accordingly.
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Everything that has my name on or personal details that I am potentially going to throw in the bin gets shredded.

Top tip of this forum - Invest in a shredder and shred anything that refers to your name or personal information before putting it in the bin.
 
I'm even worse, the bin men don't collect my home rubbish, we get it disposed of and just stick out the odd bit of recycling and some food waste etc so our rubbish gives no idea of who really lives here and of their lifestyle. Paranoid? Yep! :)
 
medicgirl said:
I'm even worse, the bin men don't collect my home rubbish, we get it disposed of and just stick out the odd bit of recycling and some food waste etc so our rubbish gives no idea of who really lives here and of their lifestyle. Paranoid? Yep! :)
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Medicgirl i bet you are one of them who recycles the toilet paper as well lol I want to know how they clean it because whn i buy a roll of recycled toilet paper it is always clean, yet have you ever tried washing it :mad::eek::)
 
Not theft as has already been made clear. As the rubbish remains 'property' in law however, (in this case the property of the local authority) its unauthorised removal constitues a trespass to goods. This is actionable by the local authority through the civil courts if they can be arsed.
 
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