Curbside Organics FAQs

Understanding how to put your green cart out and when to bring it in will help us run a smooth and efficient program. Follow these easy steps for proper cart placement.

• Fill it – Empty your kitchen catcher catcher into the green cart when the kitchen catcher becomes full. Organic materials collected inside and outside your home should be placed loosely in your cart or bagged in paper bags. Remember not to overfill your cart. The lid must be able to close.

• Space it - carts should be at least 1 metre from any objects like other carts, a fence, garage or car so the mechanical truck arms can safely grab them.

• Park it - Have your green cart out by 7 am on your collection day and be sure the arrow on the lid is pointing into the street or alley.

• Take it - Be sure to return your green cart to your property after pickup.

• Kitchen Catchers - Each household will be provided a kitchen catcher with their green cart. The kitchen catcher can be used on your countertop, under your sink, or wherever is most convenient for you to collect your kitchen waste. Simply collect organic materials generated in your home in the kitchen catcher and empty it into the green cart when full.

• Bagging materials - Organic materials can be placed loosely in your cart, in regular paper bags, compostable bags, or even in larger paper yard waste bags. Plastic bags will not be accepted in this program. Remember not to overfill your green cart, the lid must close.

Your green cart contents must not exceed 100 kilograms (220 lbs). If you can easily roll the cart, it should be okay for collection. If the cart is too heavy, please remove materials from it until it is easy to roll and return the materials to the cart after it is emptied.

Residential customers are charged $6/month on their utility bill to cover the green cart program expenses. This charge will cover part of the following costs:

• Compost facility tipping fees

• Curbside collection of green carts

• Maintenance and lifecycle for carts

• Resources for public education and outreach

A green cart program will also prolong the life of our landfill which saves taxpayers money in the long run. Landfill development is expensive, both in terms of capital and operational costs. It can also be costly in terms of useful land and greenspace.

We encourage you to continue your backyard composter. Waste diversion is a community issue so it takes a community to find a solution!

If you already have a backyard composter, feel free to keep using it and use your green cart for all the items you can't place in your composter such as meat, fish, shellfish, bones, dairy products, cooked food, cooking grease and oils, fast food packaging, paper plates, napkins, and soiled pizza boxes (just to name a few). In addition, backyard composters have a limited capacity and the processing time limits the amount of material that can be diverted.

Backyard composting can become dormant in winter months and may not allow the materials to decompose. The green cart program allows for year-round collection of organic material.

The green cart is a more efficient way to dispose of organic waste than your garburator.

You're able to dispose of things like meat, bones, paper towel, and soiled food boxes. Much more than you can fit or should put down your sink and send to the Wastewater Treatment Facility for processing.

Plus, when you send oils, grease and fats down your sink, this can result in blockages or 'fatburgs' in the sewer system.

Garburators also use lots of water, which you'll see as a cost on your utility bill. Sending solid waste down your sink may also lead to potential plumbing problems down the road.

Apartments and condominiums are currently not included in the City’s Curbside Organics Program.

Diseased branches, noxious weeds, and elm wood are not accepted in the Curbside Organics Program. Instead, please bag, tie up and place these materials in your waste cart.  A list of provincially regulated weeds is available on the Government of Alberta website.

Branches larger than 5 centimeters in diameter and 1 meter in length are also not allowed in the green cart. These should be broken down into smaller pieces before placing them in your green cart.

• If you can, store your green cart outside in a shady spot on your property.

• Use odour absorbers or neutralizers. Sprinkle baking soda, use a few drops of essential oils or spray air freshener into your organic waste.

• Freeze or refrigerate your organic waste and throw it into your green cart the night before collection day.

• Rinse your cart on your property with a hose and pour the water onto your grass, gravel, or garden. Do not pour dirty water onto the street, down the storm drain, or onto other properties.

In the colder months, wet organic material can freeze to the inside of your green cart. Follow these tips to prevent material from sticking inside the cart:

• Put crumpled flyers, newspaper, paper bags or soiled pizza boxes in the bottom of your green cart before putting in any food or yard waste.

• Alternate between layers of food/yard waste and paper products.

• Store wet kitchen scraps in paper liners. 

• Use a broom handle or a long stick to dislodge frozen material from the bottom or sides of your cart.

• Keep your organics in a paper bag in the freezer and deposit the bag into your cart before collection day.

• If possible, store your cart in sunlight.

The City provided each household with one 8-litre kitchen catcher at the start of the program. Kitchen catchers are available for purchase through most big-box stores or by calling Public Works at 780-361-4436.

If you happen to put something in your green cart that should have been left out, our Waste team may leave you an "oops tag" that will give you information on what you did wrong. On the following pick-up date, your cart will be inspected again. If there is still material that is not acceptable, the cart will not be picked up that week.

Organics are classified as food waste, yard waste, approved paper products (including food-soiled paper products) and pet waste. These get categorized as items that are made of natural materials and can be broken down into compost. 

A good general rule of thumb is: if the material came from something that was once living, it probably goes in your green cart