NEW
To minimize wildlife conflict, starting January 2020 your curbside Green Can will be picked up BEFORE garbage.
To ensure collection, place at the curb no earlier than 5:30am and no later than 7:30am on collection day.
Food scraps make up 40 per cent of our household waste. Use your curbside Green Can or multi-family Green bin to dispose of food waste.
- Place food scraps and food-soiled paper together in your apartment building’s Green bin, or with yard trimmings in a 77-litre can with a lid and a Green Can decal if you use curbside collection
- Most multi-family Green bins do not allow yard waste (grass clippings, leaves, and yard trimmings). Check with your building or strata manager for details.
- Curbside Green Cans (food scraps and yard trimmings) are collected by City crews every week
✔ 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)
✘ 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
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. Put Green Cans out only on the morning of your collection day, before 7:30am, 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 more about reducing human-bear conflict
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
Critter-proof Your Green Can
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. Put Green Cans out only on the morning of your collection day, before 7:30am, 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 more about reducing human-bear conflict
- Use your 77 litre Green Bin for grass clippings, yard trimmings and food scraps
- Yard trimmings also accepted in kraft-paper bags with folded tops (but no food scraps please).
- Bundle twigs and branches with biodegradable string or twine. No wire, nylon rope or plastic strapping. Place beside, not inside, Green Cans).
- Max bundle size: 1m long and 30cm in diameter. Max branch thickness: 7.5cm.
- Max weight per can, bag or bundle: 20kg.
Backyard Composting
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. Metro Vancouver has lots of great information on backyard composting.
In this single family guide learn how and where to recycle items and find tips to create less garbage.
In this multi family guide, learn how and where to recylce items and use your buildings green bin.