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It’s the afternoon of our trash pickup day. The doors in my home are closed, the air conditioning is running, and I have a television on, but I can still hear the loud roar of our trash container as it rolls up the driveway.

The city-provided trash container is made of something like plastic and the wheels, although a different color, seem to be made of the same material. What I hear is my husband rolling the empty trash container up the driveway to put it in its proper storage area until “Trash Day” next week. When the container is empty the sound can be deafening.

I’m not sure where the sanitation department is in Florence, but I suspect that those in charge, if they have their windows open, can hear that distinct sound of cans being rolled out in the mornings and that deep roar of empty ones as hundreds of husbands put them away in the afternoon. Sanitation management probably smiles. That noise is money to them. Something they don’t give you a lot of time to pay before assessing you a late fee.

Social media, periodicals and news stories warn retirees to be diligent about what you put in the trash. I suspect that these warnings would apply to any generation, not just retirement-age individuals.

The information stories and warnings that have arrived at my house via snail mail and electronically over the web, read like a cheap detective novel. Digging through your trash can could reveal more about you than you want everyone to know. Your trash talks.

I decided to give it a whirl and see what my trash is saying. I write my columns in our home office and there is a trash can near my feet under the desk. We pay our bills in this room, empty our pockets, and read our mail. This trash can is due to be emptied soon, so the timing was just right for an investigation.

Whoa! I found some startling things and I am not going to list them in this column. Instead let me share what could be in someone’s trash can based on my discoveries. Some of the below is real and some are things that could likely be found in the trash container at a typical home.

The first thing is bank statements, 401k statements, retirement account information. There are no account numbers on any of it, but not everyone needs to know your personal finances. The AARP magazine tells a wannabe thief I’m retired. The empty medicine bottles might reveal maladies not everyone needs to know about. The stub from the cellphone bill might tell someone I like the latest and greatest Apple phone. There is a receipt for the new oven/cooktop that we paid too much for last month. I counted a half dozen packing slips from Amazon packages. The purchases are for things no one would be interested in, but what if I bought the latest and greatest laptop? You get the picture.

Those Amazon packing slips accompanied merchandise that arrived in boxes. Don’t leave the boxes of new arrivals on your porch for very long or you won’t enjoy the new computer tablet you just purchased. I know it’s hard to believe but there are porch pirates in our city. Up the street from me is an apartment with a small porch on the front. Leaning against one of the porch posts is an empty TV box. Nice one too: 65-inch Smart TV is what the box says. The box has been there for two weeks. If you keep advertising your new toy, someone is going to break in and take it from you.

Those boxes from Chewey.com, the pet supplier, are OK. Leave them around if you want. A thief will decide you have a big dog. He does not have to know that there was a fluffy pet bed in the box for your ferocious kitty. Let the crooks think it held a 25-pound bag of dog biscuits for your Rottweiler.

So you are one of those people that let your mail accumulate and you only check your box once a week. A thief is going to size this up and conclude you are on vacation. Those newspapers in your driveway are an invitation for a crook, saying no one is home.

Your trash is talking about you. Get yourself a shredder and quit putting your 401k statements in the trash can by the street. Don’t lean that new TV box against the trash can by the curb. Be diligent about your mail and keep those newspapers picked up. Sign up for informed delivery on the USPS site so you know what packages the mail man may be bringing you. When you buy things from Amazon or Walmart for delivery, have them track and text you when they put your purchases on your porch.

Stop letting your trash talk about you.

Dr. Darlene Atkinson-Moran grew up in Olanta. She always knew she wanted to be a teacher. She is retired from the education profession and now resides in Florence with her husband, Michael. Contact her at citizencolumnist@florencenews.com.

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