Is allowing someone to suffer the consequences of their own action and not doing something about it the same thing as being passive agressive?

For example, lets say someone has a habit of putting an empty milk jug on the counter instead of throwing it away, and it sits there day after day, swelling and going bad, and nobody else does something about it or even says anything. Eventually the person who left it there does throw it out.

Are the people who didn’t do anything about it being passive aggressive? Or are they just letting natural consequences take over until the person who created the problem reacts to it?

If you say it IS passive aggressive, then would it be better to comment and nag, even if you know it would start a fight? Would it be better to step in and cover for him, like his mom might?