Go without trash pickup service? (lien, smell, apartment, worth)

[Nepenthe]

So I just signed up for trash pickup at my new house. I understand I'll likely have more garbage in a house, but not too much more. Currently (living alone in an apartment) I have very little trash, one bag every 2-3 weeks or so.

Now I'm going to pay $20/month and get two huge 64 gallon trash and recycle bins that I have to find somewhere to store for my small amount of trash.

Is it worth it? Is canceling trash pickup allowed or is this some type of benevolent requirement? Anyone gone without?

Thanks.

[iceshots]

If you don't pay for pickup, how do you intend to get rid of your garbage?

[kygman]

If you're in an apartment, have you made friends with anybody in another apartment there? YOu could possibly work out a deal with them, if you don't have that much trash. You pay them $10 for half the monthly trash pick up and put yours with theirs, then cancel your service.

[Nepenthe]

Originally Posted by iceshots

If you don't pay for pickup, how do you intend to get rid of your garbage?

Once every two weeks I could just throw it in the back of the car and drop it off at one of the huge 30 foot dumpsters at work. A minor hassle but I'd save a bit of money and quite a bit of garage space.

[Nepenthe]

Originally Posted by kygman

If you're in an apartment, have you made friends with anybody in another apartment there? YOu could possibly work out a deal with them, if you don't have that much trash. You pay them $10 for half the monthly trash pick up and put yours with theirs, then cancel your service.

Well I'm moving into a house. The apartment just has a dumpster up the path so no pickup.

You raise an interesting point though. Maybe I could work a deal with my next-door neighbor at the house...

[kygman]

My step-daughter and son-in-law just bought a place a little ways out of town. Garbage pick up here is $17. SIL puts his in a burn barrel. When it's full he hauls it off to the landfill.

[Ultrarunner]

I've got almost zero trash and pay for pick-up at work... the city passed a mandatory garbage ordinance where if you don't pay, the city pays and put a lien on the property... so much for cutting down on trash when you still have to pay for trash service...

Can you get a smaller can at a reduced rate? Sounds like you've got enough capacity to handle a family of 5

[bellalunatic]

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

So I just signed up for trash pickup at my new house. I understand I'll likely have more garbage in a house, but not too much more. Currently (living alone in an apartment) I have very little trash, one bag every 2-3 weeks or so.

Now I'm going to pay $20/month and get two huge 64 gallon trash and recycle bins that I have to find somewhere to store for my small amount of trash.

Is it worth it? Is canceling trash pickup allowed or is this some type of benevolent requirement? Anyone gone without?

Thanks.

That's insane!

Don't they have an option to have smaller bins? (If you wanted to, that is)

Just to give you an idea...we are a family of four and we have a rental on our property as well...over the course of time we've owned our place we, at one point had our family of four and a young couple with a toddler in the 2 bed apartment on the property.
We all filled up ONE 64 gal. bin...we never needed 2. Ever. Honestly.

Never been in the situation that you're in, but I'd be looking into that working a deal out with a neighbor idea.

[TomSD]

Many cities/counties require service to be established for every house. I know mine seldom goes to the curb... like maybe once or twice a month tops. That is true for all three bins (trash, yard waste and recycling) but oh well one of the evils of owning a house.

[Cattknap]

Our trash is picked up twice a week and the fee is included in our city property taxes - no opting out of it. Personally, I would think trash would begin to smell after a few days - depending on what you have in the trash - anything organic, etc. would not be great to keep around in an apt. for long.