I wouldn't pick 'em up (and don't for all the front and side yard and 1/2 the back yard) if it weren't for the pool area. I'm not required to pick em up, just required to put 'em in paper bags and set by the curb by themselves instead being thrown in the regular trash cans. They get picked up by a different truck. I put some in the regular can once, and got a nastygram from the city. The pick up is automated with a hydro/mechanical arm but the driver/operator watches what comes out of the can thru a video camera. The garbage man never gets his hands dirty nowadays. The lawn clipping/big limbs truck is similar, with a clamshell bucket that picks up the bags and limbs. Then there is a different truck that picks up the green can that has only metals and certain plastics etc in it. (they don't 'recycle' glass, cloth or paper stuff here.)