You probably know my curiosity by now! So, here's another How do you do it where you live? Nick and I were talking about how much our trash collection (which includes recycling) has changed in different areas and states. It's different for my brother in Canada too. Currently, we have these big garbage cans that are labelled for trash, recycle, and yard waste. We bring it out of the house and put it in the bins. Then the bins go to the curb and a big truck comes and empties them with a mechanical arm. The trash is picked up weekly, recycle biweekly, and yard waste weekly for about 6 months in the summer, and a little spring and fall. The yard waste is taken to a compost area, and you can get cheap compost from the city in the spring/summer. Our city also has a leaf collector and wood chipper that it collects big branches and fall leaves to add to the compost pile. How about you? What does trash collection look like for you? Is it weekly? biweekly? a person? The big trucks?
I have a XL rolling container for trash. Currently it is picked up on Fridays. I have a L rolling container for recycling. Once a week pick-up on Wednesdays Yard waste is picked up once a week on Wednesdays ... you provide the container (trash can, paper bags, plastic bags are no longer allowed), tree/bush debris has to be 4' or less in length and has to be in a container or bundled and tied. Waste yard is picked up mid-March to mid-January. January - March I just toss my yard debris in with my regular trash. My maple trees shed sticks/branches all year round.
Outside we have 3 bins with locks (we get bears in our area)...green and food waste/recycling and household that isn't recycling. Hubs is always tossing garbage into the wrong kitchen bin (we have a double can, one side for recycling and the other for garbage). Under the sink is the food waste bucket. We get city workers that come periodically to look in the outside cans on garbage day to make sure people are doing it right. You get a warning and then you get a ticket. We got one warning last year.
We have weekly pickup, one big rolling bin for recycling, one for trash. The bins are the ones that the truck can use to grab with mechanical arms, but I think usually the guy manually hooks it up to dump it. I very rarely actually see them, but they are almost always turned around the opposite direction afterwards, which wouldn't be the case if they used the arms. There's no special treatment of yard waste; it just goes with trash. Our branches are supposed to be bundled, but they pick them up anyway if they're not. They have a pitchfork that they use to pick them up and toss them in the truck. We can also set out up to 4 cubic yards of additional trash each week and they will pick up pretty much anything at no extra charge. We've put out a toilet, furniture, mattresses, and a gigantic projection TV, among other odd things. We did call ahead and ask about the TV and the mattresses to make sure, since they weren't specifically listed in our guide and we didn't want to lug them out to the curb only to have them rejected. The city also has an event twice a year where we can bring in things for recycling/disposal that aren't part of the normal scope. We usually take electronics to that one, and we have a bunch of spray paint to go this time... which is this Saturday!
I fight an ongoing battle with my housemates about what goes in the recycle bin. I have to sort through my kitchen bin before I dump it in my outside rolling cart. What REALLY annoys me is when the dog walkers toss their doggie poop bags into my recycle bin. Hello it's smaller and clearly marked as recycling. Gah!
My city does trash pickup and recycle pickup once a week. My day is Thursday. I put the recycle bin at the end of the driveway by the mailbox on Wednesday evening since I never know if they are coming early morning or in the afternoon. The trash pickup is special garbage bags that are identified with the city logo and can be bought at local stores. The city now has an option for a large trash bin. However, the area I live in is not in city limits (but I do have city utilities) so I am not locked in to their trash pickup. Several years ago I contracted with another company to do my trash pickup. Cost per month was the same except I can use any trash bags I want instead of the overpriced special bags the city requires. I bought a rolling trash can, put the bag in and roll it down to the end of the driveway on Sunday night for Monday pickup. When I made the change and dropped the city refuse pickup I asked about the recycle and it is still available to me. So I still use it. The city has changed what they pick up though and it is only #2 plastics or cardboard/paper. Anything else can be taken to an area that has large bins for collection. As for leaf pickup, since I'm not in the city, the city doesn't do anything. However the subdivision I'm in has had a leaf pickup manned by residents as long as I can remember. It started with the area of the subdivision called "the woods" since it was all trees. When this house was built Dad asked about joining in and they turned him down because we were not in "the woods" proper. Although we get a lot of the leaves from "the woods" since this house is to the east of it and we get westerly winds here! Several years ago, because of the lack of people to help, they asked 2 of my neighbors to help out. One lives east of me so they have now allowed me to join in. The neighbor that mows my lawn is one that signed up to help so the first year, he just took all my leaves to his yard for pickup. I paid his fee for him. The last couple of years I have paid the fee for myself and Chris just puts the leaves in my yard by the street. Pickup will start the end of October and run through the beginning of December. Before pickup starts, Chris just lets the mower chop up what leaves fall. Chris gathers any limbs to use in his firepit and handles any other yard waste. A landscaping company comes in November/December and does fall cleanup for my flower beds and takes care of the lawn waste.
We have one huge dumpster on the property. The county empties is on Thursday. We all have to take our trash down there, so whenever we leave, we take a bag of trash to dump on the way out.
Yours sounds a little more advanced than here in suburbs of Fredericksburg, Virginia, which was very rural just 20 years ago. When we moved here in 2000, they didn't even have recycling. Now we do have big bins for both trash and recycling, but no yard waste yet. Our bins are picked up once a week by a truck with those automated arms. San Diego is the most advanced! My dad lives there and he collects scraps and stuff for composting that will be picked up once a week. I was so impressed when I visited last June. I know I could make my own compost, but I don't garden or plant anything.
Today (Wednesday) is "trash day" with city pickup. Yard stuff gets set to the curb and city picks it up once a week whenever they decide.
Two “wheelie” bins here - one rubbish/trash that has weekly service but you pay for a tag that goes on each time it goes out. I’d say for a family of two we put it out roughly every other week. We also have a recycling “wheelie” bin that’s twice the size of our rubbish/trash bin, that has fortnightly pickup. The third bin is a smaller almost bucket type bin for food waste that has a weekly pick up. All of those services are provided by the City and we just have to put them out the night before pick up day which is Tuesday. We usually take them 3/4ers the way up our driveway on Sunday then Monday night when my mum finishes work she wheels them out for pick up. If we didn’t do that we’d 9/10 miss pick up as our area gets picked up very early. On top of that, some areas also have big barrels at grocery or big box stores for soft plastic recycling, we are in an area that has 4 places we can drop out soft plastics off to so we probably do that at least once a month.
We are out of city limits, so we don't get city trash pick up. We have to haul our own or hire a garbage service. There are 2 that run in this area, and no recycling pick up. We have to haul that to the recycling facility ourselves. But, I'm glad you posted because I was about to forget that it's trash night lol. It runs tomorrow morning, but early...like 6:30am. We also have no yard waste pick up and our service won't take it with the regular trash, so that's why we have bonfires lol. Leaves get raked or blown and we drag them in to the woods behind the house.
No trash pick up here either! We have to load it up every few days and take it to the dump. We do have recycle bins that we use for recycling and we'll take those up to the dump too.
I live in an urban area. Garbage: weekly Compost: weekly Recycle: bi-weekly (glass, plastics and paper products are all put in the same bin, we are not required to wash items or strip them of labels, etc) Each has their own large truck for collection. We have a relative that lives in CA that doesn't have to separate their garbage and recycle, it's done at the plant for them.
We have a gray 96-gallon cart for garbage and one brown 96-gallon for yard waste. Garbage and yard waste collection is picked up once a week. Yard waste is picked up on Thursdays and garbage on Fridays. We can use our brown yard waste container as a second garbage container on our garbage service day if needed. We no longer have a recycling option available to us.
Here in Wales, UK we have three bins recycling, waste and a food bin for food scraps. All the bins are collected by a large bin lorry. The waste bin gets collected every two weeks and the recycling and food bins are collected weekly.
We have two wheelie bins. The trash gets collected every Tuesday and the recycle on Thursdays. They stand in the front yard, our inside bin gets emptied when it smells or when it's full - which is usually bi-weekly. More frequently in summer, because #flies.
We have three bins like you do. ANd pick up day is on Mondays for us. Even If it is a federal holiday on a Monday, they still pick up the trash. It is very odd indeed, since you would think they wouldn't. But every holiday that falls on a Monday, we are the only ones with our trash out.
