This is the problem when every municipality has the right to issue a "license". Here in Sterling Heights, MI, they've just granted an exclusive "curbside recycling" license to Waste Management, a big trash hauling corporation. The service is designed to be a subscribers-only deal; residents have to pay $60/year to have their stuff picked up once every two weeks in a Waste Management-provided 96 gallon container. Supposedly they have to have 5,000 subscribers sign up to make a go of it, and thus far they haven't gotten half that number. I'm actually keeping my fingers crossed they don't, since there is a LOT of good picking to be had around here right now.



So if in Sterling Heights, you must have a license to curb-shop, and there's only one license in the entire town. It's bullpuckey if you ask me.