Residents advised against leaving dustbins outside
Leaving your dustbins outside after rubbish collection may pose as a threat to your home.
Fidelity ADT warns residents not to leave their wheelie bins outside the night before or after garbage collection on dustbin day.
Group head of marketing and communications at Fidelity ADT, Charnel Hattingh, mentioned that they have noticed that residents are not taking their bins back inside once the rubbish has been collected, leaving their wheelie bins out overnight.
“Another new concerning trend is that we have seen that some residents take their bins out for ‘Friday Bin Day’ and then go away for the weekend without taking them back inside, indicating to criminals that they are not home,” Hattingh said.
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Hattingh urges the residents to be vigilant and put their bins back in their yards before they go away.
“Residents are leaving their bins out overnight and criminals are using this as a ladder to climb over your perimeter wall, and bins are also being stolen,” she added.
She further mentioned that because the bins are being knocked over and obstruct driveways, residents have to get out of their cars in the morning to shift the bins, which puts them at risk of being kidnapped in the wee hours of the morning.
“Dustbins also provide a good hiding place for hijackers who may target residents returning from work in the evenings,” she continued.
Hattingh urges the residents not only to put their dustbins out on the morning of collection day but also to remember to bring them back in.
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“If you do not return home at the end of a collection day, ask a neighbour to take your dustbin in.
“A dustbin on the pavement is a dead giveaway that nobody is home. Remember never to put anything in your dustbin that has all your details on it.
“Always shred confidential information. Let’s work together to make our suburbs safer,” Hattingh concluded.
