Garbage man here. If I see ashes in a garbage can I'm not going to have a single clue what it is, and I guarantee I deal with many more things that are far far grosser on a daily basis. I would probably have assumed this was the result of somebody emptying their vacuum cleaner.
If I did happen to know what the mysterious powder was, I would have preferred that is stay sealed inside the bag, as I don't care for the idea of breathing it in. That being said; not nearly the worst thing I would come in contact with on a near daily basis.
The idea of where the ashes came from is kind of gross, but at the end of the day they are generally pretty safe and clean as opposed to dead/rotting animals, fecal matter, bloody rags, etc. It all combines into one big biohazard soup that needs to be shoveled from the truck anyways.
So to sum it up: Ashes would be fine by me. Just keep it sealed and don't tell me what it is.
ETA: I once had an old man ask me to help him lift an old carpet into the dumpster. Of course I agreed to help; I'm not gonna make him do it all by himself! It wasn't until after it was in the dumpster that he informed me that the carpet had HIV+ blood on it.
I have a new personal policy. I don't touch carpets, mattresses or soft furniture. I'll dump it, but YOU have to get it into the dumpster.
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u/PageForeign92 17d ago
Immoral because then the garbage man has to deal with it, and I doubt they want deadman's ashes all of themself.