sheeny man, [[1950's junk dealer with horse-drawn wagon)

[Jimaz]

Do "trash" and "garbage" mean something different in Michigan? I've always understood them to mean the same thing. What's the difference?

Good question. "Garbage" was biodegradable. "Trash" was not.

"Yard Waste" might be the more modern designation for biodegradable. Today's garbage grinds down through the sink's garbage disposal into the sewage. Disposing of yard waste with the trash is discouraged so that it can instead be routed toward composting. Landfills are overflowing. Composting alleviates that problem.

Then we have the whole [[relatively) new "recyclable" category, plus the "bulk trash" category including mattresses, furniture, etc.

What a complicated mess we humans make. Perhaps it has some profoundly mystical purpose in the universe, but I doubt it. Although one never knows.