Depends what your time is worth.  It's never as simple as the pure cost - it's cost vs. benefit.  And not all costs and benefits are purely financial.  For one garbage and one recycling bin, we pay about $450-480/year.  That averages out to about $12.50/week since recycling is only every other week.  If I only spent one hour a week on it, that would mean my time only has to be worth $12.50/hour to make it pencil out.  Back out the cost of gas and vehicle use, and I might get down to closer to $11/hour for the actual value of my time.  I get that most people don't earn what I earn and watch their $$ differently...... what I am getting at is that looking at it from this perspective, I don't think the charge is out of line.