I did something similar many years ago, when I moved into a 5 br. house I was renting with a friend.
Rather than go through the trouble of calling the garbage company and starting service, I would just tape a 10 spot to one of the cans every week........
It worked out the same as if I was paying the company for service, and it actually paid off one week when there was a knock at the door, and the garbage man was standing there holding a kid by the scruff of the neck, holding a handful of my mail that had just been delivered to the box.