The curbside residential carts usually are made plastic, light, usually plastic bins that are mobile. The plastic containers are made by an injection or rotational molding process. All of these are emptied by the garbage hauler, who will load the contents into a garbage truck and drive it to a landfill, incinerator or consuming crush facility to be disposed of.

In some areas there is also a recycling service, often with one or more dedicated bins intended to receive items that can be recycled into new products. These bins are separated into different categories (usually represented by colors) which determine what materials can be inserted into the bin. The most common materials used for recycling are paper, glass, metal, plastics and “green waste” (compostable material, either garden waste or food scraps or both).