I've wanted to know when the garbage man came, although it's actually fairly predictable.
Anyway, I taped an Ecolink tilt sensor in a plastic bag to the underside of the recycle can lid. Works at the end of a long driveway with intervening trees. We'll see if it works in real life.
If your trash man is like ours you’re gonna need more than tape…
My man is a machine...literally.
So is mine. And that machine has broken the lid of the trashcan twice ..... 
Ditto
If there are concerns about mounting on the lid, perhaps mounting on the back might be better.
By the way, neat idea. I’ll be stealing it shortly.
I’ve been thinking about doing something like this. I have spare Ecolink tilt sensors that I had modified to use mercury bulb switches but never put in service. (replaced with a solid state one that has been working perfectly for a couple of years.) Definitely worth a try. I had assumed the range was not sufficient.
I'd attach it to the bottom of the can.
Tough in the snow. I’m going for the not street facing back. A quality duct tape will serve.
Wondering what the use-case is for this.
I take my trash out the night before, bring it in after 5pm the next day. Never had a single issue with that approach.
So you guys have some crazy strict CCRs that require trash cans retrieved right after pickup?
Since when did home automation things have to make any sense? 
I would do it to prevent a long walk down to the street only to find out that 1) the garbage truck is running late today, or 2) there was no pickup because it was George Birthington’s Wash Day or some such.
Not far removed from why I have a motion sensor in the mailbox.
Good call, I guess I should accept "No good reason at all, I just want to know, dammit." 
What about drilling some small holes and zip tying it in place or something similar, then seal the holes?
More than one good reason for that! Lid G-Forces, device stink, and device flight are just three.
If this works in prototype then he ought to get a project box and epoxy it onto the can just under the handle. This will afford protection and radio range improvement pointing back to the house.
Then count the days before the pickup service, or somebody else, calls the B_mb Squad
And so meta .. you can trash your trash notification.
I didn't get it, but I'm dense.
I too have a long driveway. Can't see the truck. I think they vary pickup times. Can go out to move the cans with confidence they are empty. Etc.
Small things, but helpful, I'd say.
I was just amused that the trash notification has a trash can icon on it. My humor is sometimes too .. well, … meta.
I love it.
