I am in South Asia until September 16. The apartment and neighborhood where I am staying has no garbage collection. The neighbors were vague when asked where to put the garbage. I figured out that any garbage pile nearby would do. I feel bad every time I flip a trash bag into the pile next to a house by the main road. I do it at night, but there are always people walking by. The general consensus is that if we were doing anything wrong, people would let us know.
What I do like about our neighborhood is that I can burn important papers along side the road any time. That is what I do with anything that has my name on it or items that are sensitve in nature. I like burning paper and it is a local custom.
Do you remember back when you got a bank statement in the mail every month? While in Africa, all of our statements came to my mother in NH. When we saw her after 4 years there was a pile of them. I used to go out in her back yard and burn all the statements I didn’t need. She told me that I should shred them.
When we were house hunting in the US in 2018, we had a contract on a house in a neighborhood with pesky rules like no burning paper in your back yard. I am so glad we ended up living where I can burn paper and brush. Even with a permit, a fire truck once visited me during a brush burning session. The fireman said that a neighbor had called it in. While burning paper by the side of the road this afternoon, the neighbors that walked by smiled and waved. I don’t think that is what would happen in your neighborhood.
Adventures in Suburbia 