"Oren" wrote that his trash can was
missing.

Whenever I have purchased (or had issued to me by my local
government) a trash can I have taken two spray paint cans
with contrasting colors, and marked the can up, all over, in
a pretty distinctive manner. If it does blow away I can
identify it visually several hundred feet away. None of
them have ever gone missing, but if one did, and I suspected
theft, I'd just drive around my neighborhood on trash day
looking for it.

Of course if the thief lives more than a couple of miles
away I probably won't find it for a few weeks, if ever.