It carries on all year here, fortnightly picks up, which is a bit annoying as for most of the winter months by garden waste bin is empty! So you're paying for something that you're not using.
The payment for basic trash, recycling and brush pick-up are included in our local borough taxes. But twice per year you can pay extra and they'll come by and pick up whatever larger items, that would not normally be accepted.
This reminds me of a weird phenomenon that happens around here where private citizens will drive around picking up your "trash" if they see something that might be useful to them. As they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure. One day I want to set up a camera and record a show called "will they take it?" People will pick the the strangest things...
In England there is a thing called the Rag and Bone man. It dates back to the 19th Century where they would go around cities after any rags, bones, glass or scrap metal they could get their hands on to re-purpose and use to make money.
They still exist today, though they are largely members of the travelling community (Gypsies, think Brad Pitt in Snatch). We get one that comes around our estate every 2-4 weeks. They are largely only interested in metal or appliances, they don't care for rags or bones, but the name has stuck. If we've got something metal that needs getting rid of, or an appliance we've upgraded, if we hear the megaphone shout "Any old scrap metal" we'll quickly rush to drop whatever it is at the end of our drive and they'll stick it in their van.
