Our town has replaced the old trucks with new modified front end loaders so that one person does the entire route and never has to touch the cans, it's all done by machine.
They gave out new special garbage cans that are picked up by a claw on the truck, dumped into a dumpster that hangs off the front of the truck, and every so often the operator lifts the dumpster and empties it over the top of the truck where it's an open bed.
You don't see the claw on the front in these images, these trucks don't have it, but basically it's a claw that grabs the can and dumps the can into the dumpster. Then the dumpster, when full, is emptied over the top.
http://www.tigerdude.com/garbage/frontload/index.html
It's much more efficient and nobody damages your lawn, the claw drops the can back where it picked it up.
It might be spinning your wheels, but try and press your communities to invest in some new, more efficient method.
