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     

• Plastic bags
• Human waste (facial tissue, hair, etc.)
• Pet waste, kitty litter
  • Note: small amounts of pet waste can be added to a Green Cone Digester. Learn more about Home Composting.
• Paper cups (for hot or cold beverages)
• Yard waste (grass clippings, sticks, brush, etc.)
• Diapers, wipes, sanitary products (these items go into your garbage)

• 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
• Rinse your bins with lemon juice or vinegar
• 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 between layers of food
• Try keeping the most odorous food waste (e.g. meat, fish) in your freezer until collection day
• Keep your bins in cool, shaded spots
• 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
• Set your green bin out for collection every week (even if it is not full)

• 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

• 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 away from fences and rails that can be easily climbed by animals
• 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

• Do not place your green bin on a snow bank for collection
• 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
  • 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

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 contact us online. You will need to provide us 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.

The contents collected from green bins are taken to All Treat Farms in Arthur, where it is turned into compost. The finished compost becomes the main ingredient in many lawn care and garden soil products sold through retailers across Canada. 

If you live above a store and you would like a green bin, please contact us. 

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 by email for guidance on acceptable and unacceptable materials, especially when it comes to food packaging.

Although it is not a requirement, you may want to line your kitchen catcher and/or green bin to keep them clean and reduce odours. If you choose to line your kitchen catcher and/or green bin, you must use one of the following:

• Paper bags
• Paper towels
• Newspaper
• Compostable liner bags certified with the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) logo

Note: Do Not use plastic bags in your kitchen catcher or green bin. Any green bins containing plastic bags will not be collected.

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