This public domain stretch between the sidewalk and the curb, which I so lovingly refer to as "The Devil's Strip," is shared between the municipality and the property owner. I don't know how things work in your neck of the woods, but around here, that's called littering....the property owner can an WILL be cited for it, with 2 annual exceptions, when the areas towns have Spring and Fall town wide cleanups. During these brief periods, and ONLY then may large trash, tree limbs, and junk be placed at the curb. At this point, yes, it is a free-for-all, and you can bet your bottom dollar, I am right there. Your 3rd sentence there is absolutely ludicrous, and I have no response.
This is not the way that it works in most places and for sure not here. We can put out anything and everything whenever we want to. We have 2 garbage pick ups per week, one recycle pick up per week and one yard waste pick up per week.

I can set a TV, washer, you name it out by my mail box whenever I care to and will never ever get a ticket for littering because it is garbage and that is the place that we place garbage to be picked up. I get most of my good stuff from people setting out their garbage. Usually "the good stuff" is on top of or next to the "garbage" garbage, and is by no means considered stealing.

It is too bad if people get cited for placing their garbage on the curb where you are at, but most of the country is not that way. I have lived in numerous states and towns and have never ran into that problem. There were a couple of places that I lived that required a sticker purchased from the garbage company in order to place an item such as a fridge, but if you did not have the sticker, then the garbage company just left it there and some lucky scrapper would grab it anyway.