In an effort to be a good neighbor, the original poster (OP) offered to take out the trash, only for her neighbor to take it for granted and abuse the situation.
The neighbor has failed to take in the trash bins, leading to an overflowing amount of waste. “We stopped pulling her trash cans and she never put hers out and it was piling up,” OP said.
With the neighbor’s inconsiderate behavior creating a difficult situation, OP has chosen to lock their trash bin in order to protect it from being used by their neighbor.
The opinion of another comment was that locking the trash bin is justifiable. “If you have a private trash bin, it’s yours, no one else is (usually) legally allowed to throw their trash in it,” they said.