The Recycling Scavengers of Brooklyn Heights

They rifle through your garbage, leave a mess while taking cans and bottles.

What do you think?  Leave 'em alone or round them up?

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Leave them be. Some of these folks this is supplemental income.

Anything to get this city to recycle I support. The noise doesn't bother me and my bedroom is above the bin for my building.

I was watching HBO on demand a few months back and saw the short documentary "Redemption" which follows around a few NYC canners. I actually saw a guy in it that I see all the time in Crown Heights collecting cans. He used to work in a factory but once those jobs dried up he had to resort to canning.

This is a phenomenon that is not exclusive to Brooklyn Heights. 

Throughout the city, I am perceiving more healthy, immigrant female canners that I used to.

I suspect that this is due to:

1.    The city now being safe enough that women can do this type of work.

2.    Women supplementing their incomes in order to pay increasing rents

I am seeing fewer hard core drug addicts can.   I suspect this is because the aforementioned group of females is faster, and able to befriend the building supers so they are told when the recyclables will be put out.

You could put all returnables out separately so they could just take what they want quicker and without the mess.