I thought I was smart by not paying Home Depot to install my replacement overhead microwave unit and carry away the old one. Then I discovered it's almost impossible to throw away a microwave. Garbage won't take it, e-waste recycling drives were always "Sorry, all full" after the first 15 minutes... I held onto that thing for 7 years until an old gypsy scrapper and his dog happened to see it while I was working in my garage. God bless him and his dog.
I always thoroughly disassemble all electronics, much easier to properly dispose that way. Outer shell goes in recycling, along with all plastic pieces with a recycling symbol. Inert stuff goes into the trash. The stuff that is actually e waste is then much easier to drop off at a recycler. Just a couple circuit boards or batteries.
I chucked my overhead microwave in the dumpster in the alley last week. It’s pretty wild how different something as germane as trash collection is so different from place to place.
I've lived places where the city didn't want to, or was legally unable, to increase taxes to fund enhanced trash collection.
I've lived in places where the city spends tons of money on trash collection, and everyone got new wheelie bins every year, and trash pick-up three days a week.
When I lived in the desert, trash collection was frequent, and cheap as chips because the city didn't want to give people any reason to dump their trash in the desert.
They'll be abused by businesses. There's a reason any time you rent a dumpster it has a locking cover: any open dumpster will be filled overnight by carpet installers who want to dump old carpet without paying disposal fees.
I like the places where you can bring anything you want to the dump. They weigh your car on the way in, and weigh it again on the way out, and calculate your fee based on the difference.
Every man should own a sledge hammer and a bolt cutters and some decency to do what is right. Make that shit fit in your alotted bin and be grateful for the never ending courtesy of personal trash removal.