What a load of rubbish!

A young, British mother is being forced to pay $524 because she impatiently placed her trash can at the curb a day early.

Zoe Watmough, 22, was hauled before judges and ordered to pay a hefty fine, reports the UK's Daily Mail.

"I am flabbergasted," Watmough said. "There are people committing all sorts of crimes and getting away with it. Yet I have left my bin out and have been fined the best part of £300."

Officials from the Bolton Council in Greater Manchester detected her green recycling bin and gray garbage can on Wednesday – a full 24 hours before collection – but the council firmly dictates trash must not be taken out until after 7.30 a.m. on garbage day.

"Everybody in this area puts their bins out the day before collection," she said. "I don't see what the problem is and can't afford to pay the fine."

After appearing in court, Watmough was fined $247, ordered to pay an additional $247 in costs and a $30 victim surcharge due to an increasing rate of arson attacks by children in the area. The price of extinguishing a bin fire is reportedly is £1,900, or $3,756. The incidents cost fire departments up to £3million, or $6 million, every year.

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It was a second offense for Watmough, who is apparently a repeat offender. She had already been warned by council officers last November when they discovered her bins on the curb before trash day. In January, she was given a £75 fine ($148) and was prosecuted for failure to pay.

Councils have reportedly been cracking down on crimes related to eager trash disposal.

Barry Freezer, a 73-year-old retired milk man, was found guilty of a violation when he dumped cabbage stalks in his bin and incurred the fury of the council waste-collection authorities, according to the UK report.

He claimed they treated him like a criminal, refusing collection of his garden waste and saying cabbages were kitchen waste. Authorities claim he broke a rule banning meat from being discarded with garden waste for composting, a regulation intended to prevent spread of foot-and-mouth diseases.

The same, strict council refused to collect garbage from partially blind military veteran Lenny Woodward, 95, because he defiantly put a ketchup bottle and an empty coffee jar in the wrong trash receptacle.