I usually keep my trash bin on the edge of the street, all the time, for a few reasons. First, I don't want the smell wafting in through the door or any open windows. Second, it attracts flying insects, which bite and sting. Thirdly, I have a bad habit of forgetting to put it on the side of the road on collection day. For those reasons, I leave it on the side of the road. When it's raining, snowing, cold, or I just don't want to go out, however, it's an inconvenience to take the trash out and put it in the bin. But I always leave it in the same place. I think most people have a dedicated spot they keep their trash bins in throughout the week.

So my idea is very simple. Set up a clothes line going to the garbage spot from the nearest window. In my case, that would be my large living room window. The line connects to a pole mounted next to the garbage can, and loops back, with a pulley at each end. If you've ever been to an indoor gun range, you know what I'm talking about when I refer to the target pulley. It's exactly like that. In form and function. I'll post a link for those who don't know what I'm talking about.

You clip the bag to the line, push a button, and it zooms out to the trashcan, where the clip hits a stopper and releases the bag, where it falls neatly into the waiting trashcan. Then reel it back in and repeat. An alternative, and faster if you have multiple bags, method is to have the clip flip over the stopper after releasing the bag, so you can hook up multiple bags in sequence and just keep it running until they all drop their loads.
-- 21 Quest, Jun 26 2009

Target Pulley http://blog.modernm...e-in-your-basement/
this is an old-fashioned manual target retriever. My idea is for an automated one. [21 Quest, Jun 26 2009]

Automatic Target Pulley in Action http://www.youtube....watch?v=KMiurkcfwxs
[21 Quest, Jun 26 2009]

The Few http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Few
[AbsintheWithoutLeave, Jun 28 2009]

I like it. Though I think I would still prefer a personal-size trashcan trebuchet.
-- swimswim, Jun 26 2009


Hm... now *there* lies an idea...
-- 21 Quest, Jun 26 2009


Trash is way too prevalent to begin with, I don't want to add any more infrastructure around it in my personal space. Plus, I kinda like taking out the trash. It gives me a reason to go smoke a cig, look at the stars, get things to and from the car, eavesdrop on the neighbors, these sorts of things. [-]
-- daseva, Jun 26 2009


In the second link the videoee is using a Tec 9. I wonder if I can find another video demonstrating the target pulley mechanism with a better firearm.

I'm all for any tech that involves using a pulley - it's a damned impressive piece of low tech.
-- normzone, Jun 26 2009


Then don't use it, daseva. I'm not suggesting that it be mandated for everyone to use. If I had to guess, I'd say you don't live in a place where the sidewalks are covered in snow and ice for a good portion of the year, daseva, a place where snowplows create huge berms around garbage bins that make the bins almost impossible (and dangerous) to get to by foot.

And Norm, if you can find one, please post it. I did a pretty exhaustive search on YouTube and didn't find much at all.
-- 21 Quest, Jun 26 2009


what??? genii don't have trash :-)
-- wjt, Jun 26 2009


What about the trashcan lid?
-- tatterdemalion, Jun 28 2009


Ah to just have trash pick-up again would be sweet.
This city just instituted a three bin system with recyclables and yard waste picked up on alternating weeks and a bin for garbage half the size of one of the TWO we used to put out weekly.

You wouldn't believe how much is suddenly considered recyclable when your garbage can shrinks down to a quarter of its original size.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jun 28 2009


The door could be a springloaded trapdoor style arrangement. Or, just put a cover on the pole that covers the whole thing, like a carport, so you don't need a lid.

2 Fries, when I first moved into my house almost 3 years ago, my bin was only big enough to hold 2 fully stuffed bags and close completely. I mentioned it to my landlord, and she got me a larger bin that holds considerably more. Perhaps your city has larger sizes available for request? Might want to look into that.
-- 21 Quest, Jun 28 2009


Who said anything about a couple, IT?
-- 21 Quest, Jun 28 2009


You did. // for a couple of reasons. First, [...] Second, [...] Thirdly, //
-- tatterdemalion, Jun 28 2009


We can put out as much garbage as we want 21 Quest. The city just makes you pay for a tag for every extra bag.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jun 28 2009


Oh... right. I guess I did say that, huh? I suppose I should have said "few" rather than 'couple'. I'll amend the post accordingly ;D

2 Fries, that's how it works here, too. But it's cheaper to pay a slightly higher standard fee for a larger can than it costs for the per-bag rate for the same number of bags that the larger can holds.
-- 21 Quest, Jun 28 2009


To me, "a few" is a perfectly legitimate informal meaning for "a couple of", and not using it that way would be overly pedantic, similar to not splitting infinitives - I can see why someone would make that up, but it's not how the actual language works. Is this a British/US difference?
-- jutta, Jun 28 2009


//"a few" is a perfectly legitimate informal meaning for "a couple of", //
At a wedding, do they say "please join me in congratulating "the few""?
No, that would've been Winston Churchill, post Battle of Britain.

A couple is a pair, is two. End of story. <nods assertively>

//to not splitting infinitives//
This is irony, right? ;-)
Of course, English does not have infinitives, hence impossible it is to split them.
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Jun 28 2009


I don't know whether it's a US/British English difference, but it is always two in British English. Interestingly, www-m-w.com - a US source - says "an indefinite small number : few"
-- hippo, Jun 28 2009


Imagine, if you will, Shakespeare had had Henry V say "We couple, we happy couple...".
The audiences would've thought he was talking about a civil partnership, not a company of soldiers about to go into battle.

No, I'm sorry, on this one, the Yanks have got it wrong.
Where would Spielberg and Hanks be on this one?
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Jun 28 2009


When you say "I'll be there in a couple of minutes" does that mean that you are warranting the exactness of your arrival time (which may be dangerous given recent comments about the inability of anything except a stopped clock to ever be entirely accurate)
-- kindachewy, Jun 28 2009


//When you say "I'll be there in a couple of minutes"//
Depends whether the utterer is male or female, obviously.
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Jun 28 2009


Quest, I dare say the comments have expotentially outfunnied your idea, a couple to one. But I like the idea too, I mean a couple, I mean hey...
-- blissmiss, Jun 28 2009


here's a couple of ideas

I don't like trash bins left on the street. doesn't look well for the neighborhood. but frankly there's no good place for the stuff. If you use a garbage disposal for all foodstuff and rinse out containers before throwing them out, that would cut down on the flies.

edit: ideas for rich people with a pot to pee in- not for 21 who is apparently poverty stricken and angry
-- dentworth, Jun 29 2009


Gee, I'd never thought of being hygenic, Dentworth. A garbage disposal? What a wonderful concept! You should bake that! But oh, that's right, not everyone has a garbage disposal, and few renters want to pay to install one in a house they don't own because they'll have to uninstall it when they leave and have it installed again when they get where they're going. And don't even think of saying folks should just do it themselves because that's not going to happen for the vast majority of people in the 'civilized' world. But as far as not keeping it on the street, how else do you expect trash collectors to get to it quickly and easily? Anywhere else and they'd have to look around your yard for it, run across your yard (possibly having to deal with territorial pets) and ruin your manicured lawn, roll the bin all the way to the street, then go back and grab each extra bag and carry them back to the street, then get it lifted into the truck, then move to the next yard and repeat. And what if there's a locked gate preventing access to the yard? There's a strip of grass between the street and the sidewalk for a reason. You can put the bin there and it doesn't obstruct foot traffic or vehicle traffic, and it's accessible for easy collection. It's the ideal spot, Dentworth!
-- 21 Quest, Jul 01 2009


Garbage disposals are neat, but you're putting more of a load on the septic system. Composting is better if you have the area, and even anaerobic digestion if you have a big area.

[21Q] I believe [dent]'s meaning was to keep it out of sight except for scheduled pick-up which many (most?) cities have... when they're not on strike or something <wince>
-- FlyingToaster, Jul 01 2009


Oh. Well personally, I think the uniform bins lining the streets give the city a rather neat, clean appearance. It shows that we're committed to keeping our city clean. Not those ugly metal cans, mind you, I'm talking about the large bins with wheels and flip-down lids. Maybe having them painted in shades of red, white and blue would be better than the current color (brown), though. I'm thinking red for the trash bin, white for yard waste, and the current blue for recyclables. Neat, uniform, AND patriotic (for both the USA and UK). But hey, that's just me...
-- 21 Quest, Jul 01 2009


Oooh, I'm sure you could find an idiot to agree with you. ;-)

How about LCD trashcans that make them look like some sort of transparent material, such as a cage, and you can see inside and there's really nice trash in there moving around.
-- daseva, Jul 01 2009



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