Edmonton Waste Collection and What Goes Where

The four curbside streams

Apartment and condominium residents should check the City’s multi-unit guidance rather than the curbside instructions, because shared-bin buildings have different set-out rules and different responsibilities for property managers.

• Garbage — black cart: food wrappers, worn-out clothing, diapers and other household waste that cannot be recycled.
• Recycling — see-through blue bags: cardboard, paper, plastic containers, glass bottles and jars, metal food cans and beverage containers.
• Food scraps — green cart: all food waste, including fruit and vegetable peelings, spoiled food and plate scrapings. Liners are accepted but not required.
• Yard waste — double-ply paper bags or see-through plastic bags, collected only on seasonal dates in spring and autumn.

How often each stream is collected

The streams do not share a timetable. Recycling is on the most frequent cycle of the four; garbage is collected less often; food scraps run on a seasonal cycle, more frequently through the warmer months and less often in winter; and yard waste is collected only on a small number of set dates in spring and autumn.

Because the calendar depends on your address, the City publishes it through the WasteWise app and an online collection calendar, and will send a printed schedule on request. Waste must be set out before collection begins on your collection day, and the City will not return for waste that was set out late or set out incorrectly.

Setting waste out properly

Carts are emptied by trucks with mechanical arms, so how they are placed decides whether they are collected at all. Carts go on level ground with the lid arrows pointing towards the street or alley and the wheels resting against the curb, with clearance on all sides and above so the arm can reach and the lid can open fully.

• Fully close cart lids. Waste falling out during lifting is a common cause of a missed collection.
• Keep recycling loose and put blue bags close to the road or alley, separated from the carts.
• Flatten and bundle cardboard pieces that are too large for a blue bag, keeping bundles within the City’s size limits.
• Do not put broken glass in recycling; seal it in a box and put it in the garbage cart.
• Where an alley is closed for construction, set carts and bags at the front curb with clearance for the collection arm.

Missed collection and cart problems

If waste that was set out correctly is still there at the end of collection day, the City asks you to leave it out and report a missed collection. Reports can be made through the WasteWise app, the 311 online form or by phone. Carts are City property assigned to a specific address, carry a serial number and an embedded radio tag, and should be left behind when you move.

Cart repairs, exchanges between cart sizes and reports of a missing cart are handled through the City’s cart maintenance form. Residents who have trouble getting waste to the curb or bin can apply for assisted waste collection.

Eco Stations: what the curb will not take

Eco Stations are the City’s drop-off sites for items that should never go in a cart: household hazardous waste, batteries, electronics, paint, large pieces of polystyrene, and needles in a sharps container. They also run a paint exchange, accept food scraps from households without a green cart, provide free sand in winter, and give away compost and mulch in spring.

Some items are explicitly refused. Hazardous waste from businesses, biomedical waste, radioactive waste and expired medications are not accepted, with medications belonging at a pharmacy. Explosives, munitions and fireworks are handled through the police rather than the Eco Station. Elm wood has its own rules because of the risk to the urban forest, and must not be combined with food scraps or stacked and stored.

The City also runs Big Bin events, community recycling depots, the Reuse Centre and the Edmonton Waste Management Centre for larger loads. Eco Stations have vehicle size and trailer limits, and materials must be unloaded by hand, so oversized or bulky loads belong at the Waste Management Centre instead.