What Can Your Green Bin Do?
Green Bin tip
Putting food waste in your Green Bin rather than your garbage bag means that smelly, leftover food waste doesn't hang around your house for an extra week.
Intro to Green Bins
The Green Bin is an important tool for keeping food and other organic waste out of landfills, where it can instead be recycled into compost.
Your Green Bin is picked up weekly, there is no limit and it reduces the number of garbage bags you need to place at the curb. Garbage bags from homes that do not participate in the program are filled with up to 50 per cent organic waste that could be placed in the Green Bin.
Even if your Green Bin isn't full, put it at the curb by 7 a.m. on your regular collection day and your organic waste will be gone in a snap!
Did you know?
The Green Bin is a mandatory part of the curbside waste collection program in Niagara.
Single-family homes or buildings with up to six residential units are required to participate in all curbside diversion programs. This includes making sure organic material is properly sorted into the Green Bin.
What goes in the Green Bin
It's easy to use your Green Bin to its full potential and divert more than just food waste from the landfill.
- Paper towels and napkins: Often soiled with food, the only way to recycle them is in the Green Bin
- Molded paper products: Items like paper egg cartons and beverage trays have been recycled so many times that they can no longer be recycled into new paper, but rather broken down to create compost
- Pet waste: Kitty litter and dog feces belong in the Green Bin. Collect and tightly wrap in newspaper or a certified compostable bag.
Green Bin tip
Line your Green Bin / Kitchen Catcher with newspaper, flyers, cardboard, paper food waste bags or purchase Biodegradable Products Institute or COMPOSTABLE certified bags.
Get a Green Bin
Green Bins and Kitchen Catchers are for sale at locations across Niagara. Broken containers can be replaced free-of-charge.
New homeowners and new renters of single-family homes or buildings with up to six residential units are entitled to one free Green Bin and Kitchen Catcher if they don't have them already.
Get a Green Bin and Kitchen Catcher
Don't want to purchase a Green Bin? Make your own!
Garbage cans and similar containers can be used as Green Bins by having a sticker that identifies it as "Organics".
Requirements for substitute containers:
- Height: 91 centimetres (36 inches) or less
- Diameter: 61 centimetres (24 inches) or less
- Weight: 50 pounds or less
- Handles: Must have handles to pick up container
- Lid: Must have a removable lid
Green Bin tip
Try freezing your Green Bin materials and when it's your collection day, put it at the curb. This will help reduce odours.
Using the Green Bin matters
By using the Green Bin, you are taking action to tackle climate change and reduce your environmental impact.
Using the Green Bin helps to:
- Extend the lifespan of Regional landfills - When we all participate, we keep food and organic waste out of landfills, saving space
- Divert food waste to be composted - food waste in landfills produces harmful greenhouse gases like methane
- Save natural resources - organic materials that go into the Green Bin create compost which can be used as a nutrient rich soil additive. This reduces the need for chemical fertilizers and improves soil quality.
- Reduce long-term costs - landfill creation, operation and post-closure management are not cheap. Minimizing landfill usage extends their lifespan and reduces harmful emissions.
Green Bin tip
If you don't have a Green Bin with the orange raccoon-proof latch, you can use a bungee cord to keep critters out. Remember to remove it when you place the Green Bin at the curb.
Sign the "What can your Green Bin do?" pledge
Residents who sign the "What can your Green Bin do?" pledge are committing to using or improving their use of the Green Bin for a minimum of 30 days.
Waste management staff will follow up with pledge participants in the spring to get feedback. Participants that provide feedback will be entered into a draw to win a "What can your Green Bin do?" prize!
Not sure what we mean by improving Green Bin use?
No one is perfect - we all have something that we place in the Green Bin that doesn't belong, or maybe there is something that we have been putting in the garbage that belongs in the Green Bin. Whatever it is, this is your chance to commit to improving that practice. Here are some examples of pledges you could make to improve Green Bin use:
- Only use bags with the Biodegradable Products Institute or COMPOSTABLE certifications in the Green Bin
- Place pet waste in the Green Bin
- Remove plastic wrap and stickers from fruits and vegetables
Green Bin tip
Store your Green Bin in a garage, shed or somewhere away from direct sunlight. Keep your Green Bin away from railings, walls or other objects that rodents or pests can use to climb or crawl.
© Niagara Region - 1815 Sir Isaac Brock Way, Thorold, ON, L2V 4T7 - Phone: 905-980-6000, Toll-free: 1-800-263-7215
