See title. I realized that trash collection systems sometimes differ between streets… so this is just about where you live, whether it is one specific street/building or an entire country. No need to mention exactly where if you don’t feel comfortable.
For where I currently live. Government makes colored trash bags (plastics/metals, papers, organic, general waste, etc) that people can buy at local supermarkets, and these bags are required for trash collection. On collection day we just… place the bags outside of the houses/apartments. Some places buy their own trash bins too, but they are rare.
The place I live in seem to take recycling very seriously. I’ve heard from colleagues that putting the wrong things in a bag sometimes result in the “trash police” sending a fine to where you live. Allegedly the police do that by looking at where your last letter/Amazon/random delivery address (in your paper recycling bag) was sent to…
My understanding is that it is a surprisingly effective recycling system… but with the downside that 1) the city doesn’t look particularly great on/after trash collection day, and 2) sometimes the local wildlife will rip open the trash bags
Edit: some more details regarding where I live if anyone is interested. Most people only use four colored bags that are collected per week: blue (plastic, metal, something else…), yellow (paper-based recyclables), white (“residual”, essentially non-recyclable items), and orange (kitchen waste). There are also bags for garden waste and heavy waste, but they are not picked up from residential addresses. Glass is either returned to the supermarket (beer bottles) or disposed of at specific dropoff bins. Things like batteries/electronics are specific, I just take them back to the store. There are also pink bags, but they are only used by businesses
We (Delft, NL) have underground containers. You drop your trashbag through the hole and there is a sensor that detect when the container is full. At that moment the municipality comes to empty it. I like that I don’t have to store my trash in my appartment but can just drop it in the container whenever. But, the place when the containers are can get messy when they are full and neighbours are too lazy to walk the 200m to the next container and place their bag next to it instead, where seagulls rip it open.
The containers are HUGE. Sometimes the fire dept. rescues things like wedding rings from them. Also, there are several different kinds to split kinds of waste - paper, glass, textiles, plastics, residual and maybe some more i never use.
For bigger items or things like chemicals there is also a “milieustraat”, where you can drive into and the guys there tell you where to put your stuff.
Still for me this is the best option I can think of.
Other perspective from the Netherlands:
We have trash bags we can buy (€1,20 per bag) for general household waste. Plastics, metal containers and drink cartons go in a separate bag (0,15 per bag). These go out on the street for pickup.
Glass, plastic drink containers goes back to the shop for refund. Glass without caution goes in containers, separated by color.
For paper and organic waste we have a rolling bin that goes out on a separate date.
Clothes that can be reused go in a special container (or to a reshare store)
For most other things (furniture, building waste, furniture, chemicals) indeed the milieustraat is the place, though household materials that can be re used we drop at the recycling store.
I once called the police in amsterdam because of smoke coming out of one of those at 6 am on new years eve. Still unsure if the police was not impressed because I sounded too drunk to be trusted or because it was just the gazillionth of the night that was set on fire.