Food scraps make up 40 per cent of our household waste, so please make sure you use your curbside Green Can or multi-family Green Bin to dispose of food waste. Organics that end up in landfills produce methane gas, which is 25 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide. When composted, food waste can turn into a valuable nutrient for farming and gardens.
Curbside Collection
Green Can: What Goes In
✔ Bread, toast, cereal, baked goods & pizza
✔ Cake, cookies, pie, muffins & candies
✔ Coffee grounds & filters, teabags (no silk bags)
✔ Dairy products, cheese & yogurt (no containers)
✔ Eggs & egg shells
✔ Fruit, vegetables, salads, corn cobs, corn husks & pumpkins
✔ Meat, fish & shellfish (including bones)
✔ Nuts & nutshells
✔ Pasta, couscous, potatoes, rice, oatmeal, flour & grains
✔ Sauces, mayonnaise, salad dressing, syrups, peanut butter, jams & jellies (no containers)
✔ Small quantities of fats & oils (soak into used paper towels or newspaper)
✔ Lard, gravy, butter & margarine
✔ Food-soiled paper and paper food packaging (not wax-lined)
✔ Paper towels, paper napkins, facial tissues
✔ Paper towel & toilet paper rolls
✔ Popsicle sticks, small wooden utensils, toothpicks, wood chips, sawdust from untreated wood & cold wood ashes (in paper bags)
✔ Cardboard egg cartons
✔ Paper plates
✔ Plants and yard trimmings
✔ Houseplants (without soil)
✔ Weeds, plants, flowers
✔ Yard trimmings, leaves, grass clippings, small branches and prunings (curbside collection only)
Green Can: What Stays Out
✘ Plastic bags & wrap, Styrofoam
✘ Biodegradable or compostable plastic bags
✘ Plastic containers and plastic cutlery, even those marked biodegradable or compostable
✘ Bread tags and twist ties
✘ Foil wrap, containers and pie plates
✘ Metal cans or glass jars
✘ Cereal and cracker box liners
✘ Chip and cookie bags
✘ Pet food bags and other lined bags
✘ Make-up remover pads, cotton swabs and balls
✘ Butter wrappers (foil)
✘ Dental floss, rubber bands
✘ Soiled diapers, baby wipes
✘ Cigarettes and butts
✘ Vacuum contents and bags
✘ Pet feces or kitty Iitter
✘ Coffee cups and lids
Green Can: Critter-proof it
Garbage is the cause of 80 per cent of bear-human interactions on the North Shore. Keep your garbage and green can clean in order to keep bears (and other animals such as raccoons and crows) away.
- STORE
Keep the Green Can in a secure location such as a garage, shed or lockable storage container until collection day. Place at the curb between 5:30 and 7:30am on collection day - not the night before.
- WRAP
Wrap food scraps in newspaper, paper towels or paper bags to reduce odours and help keep your can clean (do not use biodegradable/compostable plastic bags).
- FREEZE
Store food scraps in the freezer until collection day.
- CLEAN
Wash the bin regularly with a mild detergent or a water & vinegar solution.
Learn about reducing human-bear conflict on our Wildlife Awareness page.
Backyard Composting - Skip the Green Can
You can compost most food scraps and yard trimmings in a backyard composter, and skip the Green Can. Composted organic materials turns into a nutrient-rich soil that you can use to feed your lawn and garden. Learn more in Metro Vancouver's brochure on backyard composting.
City Farmer is offering subsidized compost bins for $35 (cash only), with pick up from their compost demonstration garden at 2150 Maple Street, Vancouver.
Please call 604-736-2250 to reserve a composter and schedule a pick-up time. Learn more on the City Farmer website.
Get in Touch
Curbside missed collection (garbage/Green Can)
Contact City Operations 604-987-7155
Download our CityCollect App
Apple store | Google Play
Get Green Can decals
604-983-7333 | eng@cnv.org
Missed recycling pick up or get bags/bins
Contact Emterra Environmental 778-589-3221 | NV.CSR@emterra.ca
North Shore Recycling & Waste Centre
30 Riverside Drive W, North Vancouver | 604-681-5600
Recycling Support
Questions about how/where to recycle an item?
Recycling Council of BC hotline 604-732-9253 | hotline@rcbc.ca