As someone who lives in Brooklyn and moved into a place where I was responsible for trash a couple weeks ago, it took ~1 week for someone to swipe my rolling trash bin, graffiti it, burn a couple holes and leave it a few blocks away. No idea why, but it definitely made putting bags on the street more appealing

my recycling bin got stolen multiple times in Portland, but mostly because they are handy totes.

locally, garbage companies (not sure if just some, or all) scan the barrels and verify they are both at the right address and paid before picking them up.