Describe Garbage, please

Cleaning up after a coyote tore through a garbage sack is no picnic. A disgusting mess of soft drink cartons and food containers. Garbage is not always messy - just depends on what constitutes the leftovers. That is what garbage is after all. I like to clean up the bits of leftover peas or corn or ham after a satisfying dinner. Should those few tablespoons full be considered garbage? I do not like to think so. Some folks think over eating puts an extra burden on the digestive system and ultimately the heart. But should one think of the eater as the garbage can? Maybe that is the correct description. So to prevent the manufacture of fat cells I will refrain from becoming a garbage can?
OK so I should stop cleaning up leftovers at the table.
Truly, cleaning up ravaged garbage outdoors has some essence of romance. Imagine nature's critters licking candy wrappers and sugary soft drink boxes in ecstasy. I know at least one coyote comes through "my" Refuge (McNary NWR, Burbank, WA) on a regular basis because I see the footprints in the sand and the scat along the trail.
A raccoon may have been responsible for the overturned can. The can is a small one set out by a handwashing station alongside portable toilets but paper towels do not beckon sniffers. Other critters that would not resist a sweet treat are mink, skunk and weasels. I thought perhaps they would climb inside the can and ravage the food stuff inside, not tip it over and strew the wrappers around. How am I to know? I just clean up. And like *Frederick S. Perls, M.D, Ph.D, says: "Don't push the river, just let it flow."
* In and Out the Garbage Pail, 1969, a fun book with drawings and not a page number in sight!
Naomi Sherer