This is a Gas Station, Not a Landfill

[mattm04]

For a while we had the problem of people dumping large amounts of household trash at our store. The city drastically cut the amount of trash they would take, unless you spent $10 on a special bag to try to promote recycling. Turns out their is only so much you can recycle, so people kept dumping large kitchen sizes bag at our store. Other businesses with unlocked dumpsters would literally get a 6 yard dumpster filled up overnight in cases.

Eventually the city allowed more trash (from approx 15 gallons to 45 gallon can) and reduced the cost of additional bags. Since then it is not been a major issue.

[BrenDAnn]

Things I've seen in the trash at the c-store:

1) Frozen, full gallons of milk during the winter
2) Rotten apples, which spilled all over the lot
3) An old can of paint...a big one...
4) Discarded business papers/pamphlets
5) My pet peeve: Full glasses of soft drinks/coffee

I can't think of much else right now. I'll post more as I remember it!

[Racket_Man]

Could you imagine somebody dumpster diving and finding THAT?

Besides, I don't think even the most faithful of dumpster divers would give that a good home . . . that'd be like stealing someone else's boyfriend in a perverse sort of way wouldn't it?

Either way, I don't think there's enough for that one.

we all just a a big laugh over it wondering what caused someone to dump that near a gas station trash can. not that much just interesting and funny.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Beer bottles (Why you have these in your car, I don't know. But it concerns me greatly)

While it is against the law in the state of Maryland (where I am from) to drink and drive, as long as the driver is stone-cold sober the OTHER passengers may drink and have open containers in the car.

This came as a total surprise to me, but when I saw a police officer in Calvert County Maryland on "Speeders" recently let a car go (after writing the ticket for the speeding) with open containers (and a car load of very happy passengers) because the driver had not touched a drop and was being a diligent designated driver.

So one or two cans or bottles of beer in your area may not be as creepy as first thought might have it, dumping a crap-load of them into a garbage can that is as rip-proof as tissue paper is still an annoyance.

[Justin]

To be honest, I'd much prefer people to leave the diapers in the garbage can and not in a shopping cart or on the ground.

Of course I still despise all of the heavy, sharp objects that end up going in there, like engine parts and broken tile. It would also be nice if the store would replace some of the older, more broken garbage cans.

I just wish they would put the diapers in plastic bags before dumping it in the trash. At least it would limit the smell...

we all just a a big laugh over it wondering what caused someone to dump that near a gas station trash can. not that much just interesting and funny.

It must have been a horrible, horrible reason >_<

[jedikuonji]

My dad used to work for a bunch of car washes and he'd always monitor the trash situation as people thought that dumping all the garbage in the large barrels was a good way to get around having to pay for extra trash stickers. If someone came in and dumped off a huge load of trash, he'd slap on some gloves and search for anything that might ID the person. If he found something, he could call the police and the person would be cited for illegal dumping or somesuch. I think he enjoyed that part of the job the most

[Gaki]

Oh let's see what I've found in my gas station trash cans over the years.

-Poopy Adult-sized underwear. (It should be noted that not only have I found this in the trash can but I have also found pairs on the ground by our milk crates outside and a rather clean looking pair in the carwash.)
-Hubcaps (3 in one, the 4th in another)
-A human tooth.
-A couch cushion
-An area rug
-Pieces of tire
-Over 100 beer cans in one bag that was placed into our trashbag.

Most recently, as some of you read my post:

-A rather huge bucket filled with dead animal parts + Maggots.

One of the horror stories at training was a guy that found an ENTIRE dead baby deer in one of the ones by the pumps.

[Argabarga]

If I ever clean out my car at a gas station, it's gonna become a de facto landfill

I, don't have very clean and organized personal tendencies....

Last time I cleaned it out, I ended up with 2 bags of garbage... from a tiny 2 door car.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

It must have been a horrible, horrible reason >_<

Maybe it went soft on her?

[Magpie]

I know the used diapers thing is gross, but where TO put them then if not in the garbage can? I mean if your kid goes in the car and you change him you REALLY don't want that thing in the car. Trust me.

Wait, why not? Are disposables actually that much grosser? Or is this just that "if it's bad enough that you're changing them in the car it wasn't something you want to keep there"?

[aurelemsrealm]

I've seen used syringes in my store's outdoor trash cans before. I also had someone stuff a heavy, dented old car fender in one of the cans by the pumps, and they had to take the top off the can to get it in there. The manager banned one customer for repeatedly dumping his household trash in the outdoor cans and dumpster.

Dumpster divers also seem to be a big problem at our store. There are several homeless people who hang around and make a nuissance of themselves. They're always digging for aluminum cans or scrounging for lottery tickets that were accidentally thrown away by the drunks. There are also several customers who will scrounge through the trash for lottery tickets to enter into the second chance drawing.

[bsaana]

A place I worked at 8+ years ago, I used to take the garbage cans by the gas pumps to the dumpster out back on a dolly. These were big 55 gallon metal barrels painted red. The bags at the time would tear too easily so I would lift the whole thing up and dump it in. I'm not sure how it is done now, as even though I am in the same town and stop by there sometimes, I never see it happen.

I never looked to see if there was anything interesting.

[blas]

This past 4th of July weekend, my little brother helped me clean out my Neon, which hadn't been cleaned since.......since I bought it in 2006.

I found (very faded and dirty) receipts from gas stations and the like from 2007. I found coupons and other crap that expired back then. I found a receipt from when cigarettes were less than $5 a pack.

Kid you not, in that little car, we had at least 4 large garbage bags of just crap.

And when I worked at a gas station when I was younger, I used to HATE when people would pull up and do their car cleaning sprees, filling the entire thing to the brim with crap.

[depechemodefan]

I'm used to people not using the garbage cans at teh library. Like this one ass removed her/his baby's diaper and left it behind a pillar. On the other side of the pillar was a trash can.

Cookies, candy wrappers, chip bags, soda cans. For some reason, people hid beer cans. One time someone hid a beer can in a drawer of teh copy machine. Another time I was removing a book from the shelf and a beer can was hiden behind it.

One day I was driving down the street when an ass turned right in front of me from a parking lot, and I had to slam the brakes. 4 blocks latter the car pull into an apt. complex and the passenger just let drop from her window a grocery bag of trash onto the road.

[Stryker One]

Sticking it to the man.

I think for a lot of people that the gas station = evil big oil company. So they figure, f*ck 'em, they can afford it.