today they were doing some repairs on the trash receptacle, as you can see. normally, only the green trash can is above the ground. only when they empty it, they pull the entire thing out so that it can be emptied. im always afraid they are going to hit the cars when that huge thing is hanging in the air, swaying from left to right, but it seems to always just work out... :) every street has one, so they must have some practice doing it! when i lived in utrecht, i did not have the luxury of throwing out my trash whenever the trash can at home was full; only once a week the trash was being picked up (as is still the case in many places in the netherlands). since i did not have an outside (not even a balcony or something), i had to keep all my trash in my tiny kitchen until trash-pick-up-monday. imagine hot summers! yuck!! so sometimes i had to secretly throw my trash in the public bins (which is not allowed, ofcourse).
here you can even put out all big stuff you dont want anymore next to the bin. but only once a week. on wednesday evening, not before 9 in the evening, and then they come pick it all up somewhere thursday morning. ever since i live here i am annoyed by all those people that just throw all their big trash next to the bin, regardless of what day it is. and if one person puts something there, others come to add their stuff as well, resulting in a huge mess thats standing there for days. every now and then people come by and take stuff they can use, or halfway change their mind and just leave it somewhere on the pavement; an even bigger mess. AAARGHHH!! i really dont get the laziness (and carelessness) of people....
