Originally Posted by Bart

Here's what I see at my job:

Passengers who come through the WTMD with their boarding passes clenched in their mouths. Then they hand it to me. While that's disgusting enough, they then place it back in their mouths after I hand it back to them!

Passengers with minor cuts or are otherwise bleeding who refuse medical attention. They may have used their own handkerchief to stop the bleeding or maybe even used some of our paper towels, but I don't know where they've discarded these items.

Passengers who place a foot on a chair to tie on a shoe in the screening area (or in any area for that matter). It should be pretty obvious that someone is going to sit in that chair, but it doesn't seem to matter to the people who do this.

And I've already covered the loose, uncovered toothbrushes inside of toiletry bags (with soap bars, colognes, shaving creams, etc.); cosmetics bags with the interior linings discolored or powdery; food wrapped in napkins placed inside of carry-on bags; etc.

The point to all this is that dirty bins are the least, or should be the least, of all worries. While theoretically possible to catch a disease or the transfer of bacteria from a dirty bin, washing hands is a simple and effective means of prevention. Putting the blame on TSA or suggesting that TSA provide booties is a lazy denial of individual responsibility. (Are there any guarantees that the table you dine at in a restaurant is truly clean? Where do you place your silverware once you begin to eat? I submit that you are more likely to catch a disease as the result of eating at a restaurant than handling a bin at the airport.)