All this week our trash company is doing a “free trash” day, so anything you wanna put out, they’ll haul away.
We’ve been waiting for something like this.
We definitely beat everyone on the block. I’m just happy we’re going to get rid of the giant pile o’boxes and paper and what not that was piling up in our driveway (and had gotten a nice level of composting going on with the recent rains).
My question is: why do trash companies do this? In LA you get to pay for each and every bag you want to throw away, 52 weeks a year (unless you can sneak it into someone else’s trash, I guess). No free trash days there!
Free trash day sounds like a great idea. In my neck of the woods, we don’t have trash pick up. Everything gets hauled to the dump by us (and by us, I mean my husband). The good part is we can bring almost everything to the dump. The bad part is that WE need to bring it there.
We have free trash pick up every week, and free recycling pick up once a month, with county-owned trash carts for both assigned to each residence. Plus, if we have something large to get rid of like a refrigerator or a sofa, we put it at the curb and call for a special pick up, it is removed in a few days. (More than a few cubic yards of construction waste is not allowed, though, that has to be taken by private contractors.)
Of course, our property taxes are much higher here (Milwaukee) than in CA. You pay for it, one way, or another.
Personally–I’d rather pay the higher taxes than pay per garbage bag (even though we are conservative, eco-conscious shoppers at our house and use far less than the neighbors, so we’d probably save in the long run). But people here complain about their taxes ALL the time. It just seems so much more civilized and simple for municipal expenses to be paid for by local government, instead of by nickel-and-diming residents.
FWIW, I’d love my old phone bill back, too.
Cathy B.