Is there privacy in one’s trash put out for collection?

It depends.

If you put your trash at the curb then you have no expectation of privacy in 50 states as to the feds snooping around in it. In 49 states you have no expectation of privacy for similarly-placed trash.

If you’re going to commit a state crime and put evidence in trash, move to New Hampshire and put your trash in opaque bags out on the curb. Under a state supreme court decision opaquely bagged trash is off limits to state and local police.

Live free or die, but know that you can place tape over that phrase on your license plates.

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