Yes, it works in some areas. Our church puts out bulky items the day or two before the scheduled pick up and we get some people who go around the day before and pick things that they want to recycle. The crew in our area is great.
Many of the crew live in the area and are familiar with the residents. This probably helps with the timeliness of the pick ups.
Then we get the ones who want to dispose by themselves. It's a good thing but when they run into a closed drop off site, they just go down the road and dump it on the side of the road. Some just don't know of the time facilities are open or just don't care.