Who Is The Litterer? Who Is The Thief?

A friend at work and myself were discussing these two scenarios today. Your opinions, please.

1) I'm walking down the side of the road looking for scrap. I have a small bag full of aluminum cans that I've found, and a small bag full of little bits of steel. I see something that appears to be metal, and I pick it up only to find out that it's plastic. I put it back on the ground. Did I litter because I had it in my hand for 10 seconds? When does ownership of the item picked up begin? The second I see it? Touch it? Pick it up?


2) My city picks up plastics, small metals (aluminum soda cans and soup cans and the like, mainly), glass and paper/cardboard as part of a recycling effort. I pay for this service on my garbage bill - the city does not pay me. Not far from the house is a recycling center where people drop off not only these same goods, but also used motor oil and some other things. Oftentimes, sitting in an unmarked corner, there are things like vacuum cleaners and carpet cleaners and whatnot. They are made of all kinds of things that aren't on the city's list for pick-up (although they are clearly worth a bit of $ when parted out), and they are being dropped off in an unmarked area of the recycling center. There is a sign at the center that states, "No Illegal Dumping". I don't know what that means because it's not clearly defined what is and what isn't illegal. I assume that anything that can't be thrown into a landfill would be illegal (like a gallon of mercury or something). Elsewhere it states clearly that paint cannot be dumped, so that's one thing that can't be dropped off. Now suppose I'm there dumping some used motor oil into the proper container, and I see a vacuum cleaner sitting in the corner of the recycle center. After I dump my oil, I wander over to this unmarked area in the corner and toss the vacuum cleaner I see into the back of my truck. Did I just steal? After all, there's no sign that indicates that the area is for appliances, and additionally, I pay the city for the recycle service and recycle center (and they make money on it, no doubt), so if I am paying them to pick up some of my junk, can't I help myself to some junk when I some I like? Also, there is no sign explicitly saying I can't take something that's left there.