I have to put my trash container at the edge of the road twice a week for the trash service to empty. Sometimes, like today, the wind eventually blows it over before the truck comes when the container is lightly loaded. Then I have to remove the container including trash in the hope things work out better next time.
This has become more of a problem this year when the number of windy days with strong winds have increased all this year.
Ahhh! You see my question coming!
How can I prevent this problem without putting a bunch of bricks in the container when I have only a small light amount of trash? I suspect it's hopeless.
I keep mine in a wheeled cart. It is easier to roll them out. Wind, dogs, possums and raccoons can't knock them over. I made mine from PT lumber and it is pretty heavy. Nothing has ever tipped it.
I was thinking (before you posted this) that you already had a wheeled tote supplied by the refuse collection company. Regardless, even they will tip under the circumstances you described.
I would look to just securing the top of the can so that IF it does tip, the contents will remain inside. Just use an elastic band with the hooks.
Let the collector right it and dump it. The nice thing about the wheeled totes provided is that once they do tip over, they don't roll; unlike the traditional garbage cans.
Depends on the area, here, the garbage guy will drive right past a tipped over bin, they never get out of the vehicle, the trucks have a mechanical arm, that goes out from the side of the truck grabs the bin, raises it, and tips it into the truck,then they put it back down and off to the next house.
With the mechanical arm and dump, it's very likely the elastic band with hooks will keep the garbage in. While you'd prefer the garbage to get dumped into the trash truck. Might not help.
If you don't like the other answers, build a little box to put the container in. One foot high is probably enough, 2 foot is for sure, and it doesn't have to have walls, just a ridge around the top. Like a cup holder.
If you dont have a tree or post along the curb, put a 4x4 post in the ground. Then use a bungie cord to attach it to the post or tree. however, if your trash service guys dont touch it with their hands, they'll rip the bungie cord or do other damage with their power lift.
If you put bricks in it, they will dispose of your bricks too.....
Our "cans" (containers) are large plastic beasts (85G?) with wheels on back (sort of like a built in hand-truck) and a lid that is also hinged along the back edge. We have one for trash and another (same size, different color) for (unsorted) recyclables.
On windy days, the lids can fly open. For the trash container, this is usually not a problem as we have our trash in plastic bags within the container so they're not going anywhere.
But, the recyclables container often has loose sheets of paper (newspapers, first class mail, stuff I've "printed out", flyers, etc.) that can make a real mess once the wind takes hold of them.
If I know it is going to be exceptionally windy and can afford to defer collection for another week, then I'll usually take that gamble. Otherwise, a few "large stones" (the size of two fists) placed on top of the lid near the front edge hold the lid down in all but the most insane storms. When the truck comes along to lift the container and dump its contents, the rocks naturally slide off onto the end of the driveway as it rises and starts to tip (which opens the hinged lid and dumps the contents). When I retrieve the container at the end of the day, I pick up the rocks and toss them into a corner of the yard (our yards are typically crushed stone, here, so a few larger rocks don't really look out of place).
I'd strap down couple bricks inside the bin at proper positions and it won't fall out when trash is dumped by the machine. We deal with 3 bins, one for trash(black), one for recyclable(blue), one for organic waste like kitchen waste(green) once a week.
I was thinking a couple of rare earth magnets from disk drives with a corresponding piece of steel.. They bang them hard enough to pop it open if you have anything heavy in the can at all.
I always lay mine flat on the ground, with removable top visably closed. Been doing that ever since racoon started tipping it over. The trash man just let's lid on ground somewhere. If the wind blows, sometimes the lid will fly away.
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