Green Bin

Food

• Fruits, vegetables
• Meat, poultry, fish, shellfish (including bones and shells)
• Pasta, bread, cereals, rice
• Baked goods
• Dairy products, eggs and eggshells
• Coffee grounds, loose leaf tea, paper filters and tea bags
• Nuts, nutshells
• Flour, grains
• Herbs, spices, sauces
• Fat, grease, lard (small quantities, solidified, no liquids)
• Chewing gum
• Pet food
• Pumpkins and Jack O'Lanterns (cut up to fit into green bin; remove any candles or decorative items)

Paper

• Muffin liners, butcher paper, wax paper, parchment paper
• Paper plates, paper napkins, paper towels
• Fast-food paper packaging (no paper cups for hot or cold beverages)
• Paper flour and sugar bags
• Greasy pizza boxes (broken down to fit into green bin)
• Shredded paper (loose or in compostable bags only)

Other Items

• Houseplants (including soil)
• Animal bedding (no droppings or kitty litter)
• Saw dust, wood chips, wood shavings                                                                      

Not Acceptable

• Plastic bags
• Human waste (facial tissue, hair, etc.)
• Pet waste, kitty litter

Small amounts of pet waste can be added to a Green Cone Digester. Check out the Home Composting page for more information.

• Paper cups (for hot or cold beverages)
• Yard waste (grass clippings, sticks, brush, etc.)
• Diapers, wipes, sanitary products

Diapers and incontinence products go into your garbage. To reduce odours, double bag and use a garbage can with a sealed lid, ensuring the outer bag is a user pay garbage bag. Please, only one bag of waste per garbage can. Check out the Garbage Collection page for more tips on managing diaper waste.

What is the Green Bin Organics Programme?

All households in the County of Wellington that currently receive curbside collection can participate in this programme. This includes multi-residential buildings with up to six units. Single family households and multi-residential buildings with up to six units should have received their green bins.

Multi-residential buildings with seven or more units are excluded at this time, unless the building is currently using the User Pay curbside collection programme for waste disposal. If you live in a multi-residential building with seven or more units and you would like to have the Green Bin Programme implemented in your building, please call Solid Waste Services (SWS) at 519.837.2601 or email wasteinfo@wellington.ca. You will need to provide SWS with the contact information for your building's landlord/superintendent/building owner/condo manager. Multi-residential buildings with seven or more units will be assessed on a case by case basis. If your multi-residential building is not eligible for the Green Bin Programme, it is up to the building's management to source out organics collection service through the private sector. 

Some small businesses, churches, etc. with limited organic waste are eligible to participate in the Green Bin Programme. Similar to how the County handles blue box collection, this would be limited to organizations that are on the County's collection routes, and limited to a maximum of 6 green bins per location. Also similar to how the County handles blue box collection, the organization would need to purchase their green bins. Green bins are available for $20 each at all of the County's six waste facilities.

Green bin collection began the week of July 7, 2020. Green bins and blue boxes are now collected weekly, while user pay garbage bags are collected every other week. Please refer to the SWS calendar for more details on your collection schedule.

I just moved to a home in the County and it doesn't have a green bin. How can I get one?

If you have just moved to a home in the County and you need a green bin, please call Solid Waste Services at 519.837.2601 or email wasteinfo@wellington.ca.

I live above a store. How can I get a green bin?

If you live above a store and you would like a green bin, please call Solid Waste Services at 519.837.2601 or email wasteinfo@wellington.ca.

How can I replace my damaged green bin?

If you have a damaged green bin, please bring it to any of the County's six waste facilities to exchange it for a new one, free of charge.

How can I get an additional green bin?

If you need an additional green bin, they are available for $20 each at all of the County's six waste facilities.

I am a business owner in the County. How can I participate in the Green Bin Organics Programme?

At this time, we are focusing our efforts on the residential sector for the Green Bin Programme. Green bins will only be provided to residential properties.

Some small businesses, churches, etc. with limited organic waste are eligible to participate in the Green Bin Programme. Similar to how the County handles blue box collection, this is limited to organizations that are on the County's collection routes, and limited to a maximum of 6 green bins per location. Also similar to how the County handles blue box collection, the organization needs to purchase their green bins. Green bins are available for $20 each at all of the County's six waste facilities.

In addition, the County is working in partnership with the City of Guelph on the Smart Cities "Our Food Future" project. There may be opportunities through this project to assist local businesses to reduce and divert food and organic waste in their operations. More information on the overall initiative can be found at http://foodfuture.ca/.

There are a variety of compostable take-out containers out there. However, not all compostable take-out containers are made the same, and some may not be accepted in the Green Bin Organics Programme. Curbside collection crews look inside each green bin before collecting the material, to ensure only acceptable material is collected. Green bins with unacceptable material will be left at the curb uncollected, to prevent contamination. If a collector cannot visually see that a take-out container is compostable, they will leave the green bin uncollected. Please note, collectors will not be pulling material out to inspect them thoroughly. Therefore, a simple rule to follow with take-out containers is to choose containers that can be visually identified as compostable from a distance. The best option that will cause the least confusion is paper take-out containers. These can be easily identified and are accepted in the Green Bin Organics Programme. Other plant-based compostable materials, especially those that look like plastic or styrofoam, will likely not get collected.

Organizations that participate in the Green Bin Organics Porgramme are encouraged to contact Solid Waste Services at 519.837.2601 or wasteinfo@wellington.ca for guidance on acceptable and unacceptable materials, especially when it comes to food packaging.

• Plan your meals
• Shop with a grocery list
• Incorporate leftover meals into your weekly meal plans
• Keep your refrigerator set to 2 to 4^oC to keep your food fresh
• Freeze whatever food you can so that it can last longer
• Whatever food you cannot use up you can put in your green bin or backyard composter

Check out our Food Waste Reduction webpage for more information and tips.

• Keep your kitchen catcher and green bin clean. See Keeping Bins Clean below.
• Rinsing your bins with lemon juice or vinegar can really help to reduce odours
• Add layers of paper (e.g. shredded paper, newspaper, used paper towel) between food waste to absorb moisture
• Sprinkle a natural deodorizer like baking soda into bottom of your kitchen catcher and/or green bin, and occasionally sprinkle a bit of baking soda between the layers of food waste throughout the week
• Try keeping the most odourous food waste (e.g. meat, fish) in your freezer until collection day
• Keep your bins in cool, shaded spots. Your kitchen catcher may go under the sink or on the counter away from windows, while your green bin may be in a garage, shed, or a shaded spot outside.
• Try waiting until the night before collection to clean out your fridge
• Empty your kitchen catcher into your green bin regularly to keep odours out of your kitchen. Remember, your green bin is collected weekly, but you can empty your kitchen catcher as often as you want!
• Set your green bin out for collection every week, even if it is not full. Remember, both organics and recycling are collected every week!

• Line your kitchen catcher and/or green bin with paper or BPI compostable liner bags
• Try rinsing your kitchen catcher every time you empty it, and rinsing your green bin after every collection
• Rinsing your bins with lemon juice or vinegar can really help to reduce odours

• Keep the lids of your kitchen catcher and green bin shut at all times
• Use your green bin's orange latch to lock the lid shut and keep animals out
• Store your green bin in a garage, shed, or at the very least, away from fences and rails that can be easily climbed by animals
• If you store your green bin outside and are worried the orange latch is not enough to keep critters out, try using bungee cords or a heavy object on the green bin lid. Just remember to remove these on collection day!
• Keep insects, such as ants, away from your kitchen catcher and/or green bin by placing vinegar around the rim of the opening. This is especially helpful in the Summer!

• To prevent organics from freezing inside your green bin in extreme cold temperatures, try these helpful tips:
  
  • Avoid placing liquids inside your green bin
  • Place a paper egg carton or balled up newspapers at the bottom of your green bin to prevent contents from sticking to the bottom of the bin. Theses paper items are acceptable in the Green Bin programme are okay to fall into the collection truck.
  • Line your green bin with a BPI compostable liner bag, then on collection day tie the bag shut and loosen the bag from the sides of the bin before setting the bin out for collection
• Do not place your green bin on a snow bank for collection

• Avoid losing your green bin on windy days by bringing your bin back inside or beside the house as soon as possible after collection. You can also write your address in permanent marker on your green bin so that it can be returned more easily.
• Convenience is key! Place your kitchen catcher in a more convenient and accessible location than your garbage bin to ensure that you and your household compost as much as possible. Just make sure you do not put any garbage items into your kitchen catcher.
• Download the Recycle Coach waste app to receive set-out reminders, so you never miss a collection day. The app can also tell you how to dispose of items properly when you are unsure of where they go.