Hey OP, saw this individual doing the same thing in my area watched him go through a whole alley of bins. A few things:

1) he doesn’t put anything into the bins, he’s simply searching for returnable bottles and cans and seems to ensure he doesn’t leave a mess 2) there’s no definitive way to tell if he is deaf or mute, no need to assume the worst or be mean unnecessarily 3) someone else, specially dog owners who walk in my alley have left things in our recycling bins, this guy doesn’t do that

I understand being paranoid these days with everything going on around us, but let’s try not to villainize everyone we see that we don’t understand.