Berkeley started curbside collection of food scraps in the last few months, and it’s been a great boon to my somewhat forgetful lifestyle. Because my trash no longer smells and I only generate one bag of trash every other week, I only have to remember to wheel out the trash bin Wednesday night on alternate weeks. The compost bin provided by the city is not very good — it’s too big to clean out in the sink, stuff sticks to the sides, and it starts smelling after a week. I’ve repurposed a glass bowl that I keep next to the sink for food scraps, take it out every other day, and clean it before refilling. I vote two thumbs up on curbside composting.
Unfortunately, the amount of paper that I have to recycle from junk mail is ridiculous. I feel like the membership dues I have paid to the ACLU must have gone entirely towards defraying the costs of asking me for more money. It almost makes me want to end my membership, except I know they’ll keep harassing me for years to come, so the gesture would be wasted. There should be a national do-not-junk-mail list like there is for telemarketers.
An Ergodic Walk 
I aree about the program but I think the little green bucket with the lid is pretty nice under the sink. It’s true you don’t want to put smelly sticky stuff in it, but it very handy for all sorts of other stuff like coffee grounds+paper filters, egg shells and all manner of peelings.
As for junk mail, the web will kill a bunch of it. Who actually reads catalogs and sale flyers anymore? In the old days, you had to look at that stuff to learn who sells what.