Nearly 5% of Vancouver household waste bins have gone ‘missing’ over last 2 years: city

A disturbing new property crime trend has popped up in Vancouver over the past couple of years: stolen household garbage and recycling cans.

Statistics from the City of Vancouver provided to Global News show nearly 5,000 of the wheeled plastic receptacles have gone “missing” over the past two years.

That’s five per cent of the 100,000 cans existing in the city — and the thefts are costing taxpayers a lot of money.

He added each container costs between $70 and $80, depending on the size, but the costs go up even more after a replacement is found.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

“There’s a cost to deliver it, to retrieve when it’s abandoned, so there’s a whole bunch of different costs associated,” he said.

McDermott said the entire cost is paid by the city, with no bill sent to homeowners who ask for a replacement.

2:09 City of Vancouver removes some garbage cans

But the city warns on its website that replacing stolen or damaged bins increases the cost of garbage collection for customers.

Each bin includes space on the lid for homeowners to post their address so it can be returned if found.

A pile of bins that had been recovered over the past five days were found Friday on the False Creek Flats, waiting to be reunited with their owners.

People living on the streets of Vancouver are often found with stolen bins. They say the reason for taking them is simple: they have wheels and they’re waterproof, making them ideal for transporting belongings from place to place.

“You could grab it from wherever because they’re in everybody’s backyard,” one man who did not give his name said.

McDermott said homeowners should consider chaining their bins to their property if possible to prevent future thefts.

Otherwise, he said the containers will likely continue to be stolen.

“That’s a possibility, and it’s unfortunate,” he said.