Also wanted to verify OP’s experience. The deal here is we just fill up a big green trash bin with sticks and yard trimmings (it takes a couple weeks to fill up a large 55 gallon (i think) tote unless we’ve just yanked out a bush or something, and we are on a small lot) and let the city mulch and compost them for us. If we want, we can go pick up a pickup bed full of mulch from the dump for free any time we want. If we want more than a pickup bed full in a day (they check your ID), we have to buy the mulch. it’s a pretty nice system.