Our city has large item pick-up bi-yearly, sponsored by the city. They divide the city N-S in two sections, each one on alternate years. What is amazing is that the collectors actually collect very little, since it's a 'posted' collection day, the pickers start a couple days in advance 'collecting' for the city. Our daughter lives in the 'other' section, so we trade years hosting each others curbside recycling of large items, I had an old rider that I took to her place one year, took a day early, and it lasted about an hour before it was collected, if the city would recognize and sponsor the event yearly, I don't think their cost would increase much. I actually can't remember a year when anything remained that the city sponsored 'collectors' collected, as the pickers picked us clean!
As for other refuse, our HOA provides contracted collections, and we are allowed as much recycled material as we have, but are limited to a single provided container for the included service, excess requires a purchased tag. Lawn waste is collected in purchased brown bags 8 months a year, sticks/limbs bundled. Any plastic with a # in a triangle is accepted for recycle, even foam if it has a embossed #, so it's relatively good service. Like others, our trash container is usually bi-weekly at most, but recycle is full weekly.
One of the adjacent cities operates a composting landfill service, a resident can deposit as much lawn waste as desired, from grass clippings bagged in paper to full size tree stumps, and also you can go and 'collect' deposited stumps if desired to split for firewood, all the rest they grind for either landscape mulch or if not collected by residents they move it to the composting area where they actively 'turn it over' and then when it's ready they allow free compost to be collected. Really a great city service, and fortunately I've friends that routinely ride to the site w/ me so I can deposit tree trimmings. They do that because they take theirs on my trailer at the same time, so works well.
