Garbage bins thefts on the rise in Windsor

Stolen garbage bins CTV Windsor's Robert Lothian looks at reports of incidents of garbage bins being stolen and sold online.

A Windsor man is left looking for answers after his garbage bin was stolen for the second time in as many years.

About a week ago, Scott Blacklock learned his trash had become someone else’s treasure following the disappearance of his Herby Curby garbage bin from his Walkerville home.

“Now that it's happened twice, I certainly think that there is a much higher chance than I was giving it credit for,” Blacklock told CTV News in an interview.

Blacklock said he wheeled the garbage bin to his alleyway ahead of the weekly pickup. It wasn’t until his wife tried to leave that the couple learned their bin had been stolen.

“I had thrown out a bunch of old underwear, and overnight, having the person that took the garbage bin dumped all the bags here, some rodents, some squirrels, some raccoons got into it,” Blacklock said with a grin. “My wife pulled out of the garage in the morning to see my underwear strewn about the alleyway.”

The bin was a rental from Herby Curby, which only requires a $25 replacement fee. Blacklock said the first time his bin was stolen, he had to buy a new one, totalling nearly $200.

“So, frustration more about the inconvenience of it all than the actual monetary cost," he said.

However, the disappearance of garbage bins is a trend being experienced outside of Blacklock’s alleyway.

Data provided by Herby Curby states the company has experienced a dramatic increase in reported bin thefts. In 2022, they said 35 bins were reported stolen by customers.

By 2023, reported thefts increased to 309, which has already been surpassed this year as the company has received 384 reports of stolen bins.

The ballooning interest in garbage bins has been “crazy” to Herby Curby Customer Service Representative Charlotte Coates.

“The customers are definitely frustrated as well as we are, as being a rental company, we are taking a hit as well,” Coates said.

The company does not have a concrete answer to the heightened desire for garbage bins, though they do have potential reasons.

“We've seen where the homeless, instead of using shopping carts, are using the bins to carry around their stuff as it's protected from the elements,” Coates said. “We've also seen that there's been an increase in secondary sales on things like marketplace, so we're not sure if people are grabbing them to try to make a dollar or not.”

Advice from Herby Curby states to keep bins away from the road outside of collection days and mark bins with a home address to deter thieves.

If a bin is stolen, Coates encouraged customers to contact the company and file a non-emergency police report online.

In Blacklock’s case, his new bins are now coated in spray paint detailing his address. Standing in the alleyway where the theft occurred, he acknowledged his preventative measures can only do so much.

“I think that it's unfortunately quite likely that this will happen again, if not to me, to one of my neighbors or someone else in the neighborhood,” Blacklock said.