At my landfill -also the recycling drop off location - Their rule is if it hits their bins it's theirs - even the garbage bins. They say it is for safety reasons. Most people will put interesting or good items on the lot and not in a bin then it is there for the taking. To be quite honest with you if it is in the garbage bins and I can get away with it I will pull something out real quick. Just as a side note the other day when I was there I saw a guy unload at least 30 car batteries to be recycled. I almost cried. I stopped the guy and asked if he had any more he wanted to get rid of he said no that was all of them. I told him he could have sold them and he says "yeah I saw the signs saying they would buy them" He was referring to a scrap yard on the way to the dump about a mile away. Sometime I wonder about people close to 300$ down the tubes!!!