About Green Bins
Green Bins are used to collect residential organic waste for composting and will help the City reach its goal of diverting 65 per cent of its waste from landfill by 2012.
You will put your Green Bin out beside your garbage by 6 a.m. on your regular garbage day. [FIND YOUR COLLECTION DAY]
Note: Every Green Bin is stamped with the following message: "Warning! Suffocation hazard. Do not allow children to play inside this container."
If you need a Green Bin you can get one at Kingston Area Recycling Centre at 196 Lappan's Lane, Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Each residential unit may put out one Green Bin a week. If you have an issue with your Green Bin, please call Customer Service at 613-546-0000.
Please bring damaged Green Bins to the Kingston Area Recycling Centre for exchange. Note you will only receive a new bin if you bring in your damaged bin at the same time. Rinse/clean out the bin to the best of your ability.
Only residences and apartments with six units or fewer are currently issued Green Bins. You can mark your Green Bin with your address when you receive it.
What Goes In The Green Bin?
FOOD SCRAPS
Baked goods, bones, bread, butter and margarine, cake, candy, cereal, cheese, chicken, coffee grounds and filters, cookies, corn cobs and husks, dairy products, dough, eggs and egg shells, fish, flour, food scraps and leftovers, fruit, grains, gravy and sauces, grease, lard and fat, herbs and spices, jams and jellies, mayonnaise, meat, nuts and shells, oatmeal, pasta, peanut butter, pizza, popcorn, pumpkins, rice, salads, shellfish, tea bags, vegetables, watermelon, yogurt, etc.
Put melted butter and liquid grease, lard, and fat into a polycoat milk or juice carton with the plastic spout removed. Let the material solidify and then place it in your Green Bin.
DO YOU COMPOST TOO?
Use the Kitchen Container to collect organic waste to create compost for your own use with
a backyard composter.
[MORE ABOUT COMPOSTING]
Note that some of the items allowed in a Green Bin would not be suitable for backyard composting. Those items include: bones, chicken, fish, grease, lard and fat, meat, dryer lint, hair, popsicle sticks, sawdust and wood chips, toothpicks, facial tissues, paper towels, greasy pizza boxes, microwavable popcorn bags and soiled paper products.
SOILED PAPER PRODUCTS
Facial tissues, paper towels, greasy pizza boxes, microwavable popcorn bags, paper plates and paper napkins.
YARD WASTE
You may set out a Green Bin full of yard waste. The City, however, will not collect extra
bags or bundles of yard waste with the Green Bin. (The City will continue to offer leaf
and brush collections in the fall.)
[MORE ABOUT YARD WASTE]
Appropriate yard waste for the Green Bin includes: leaves, weeds, grass clippings and small bits of brush that will fit into the Green Bin with the lid closed and locked.
You may prefer to compost these materials in your yard, or use them for mulch. [LEARN ABOUT 'GRASSCYCLING'] and [NATURAL LAWN CARE]
OTHER STUFF
Dryer lint, flowers, hair, small houseplants, popsicle sticks, sawdust (in paper bags) and wood chips, toothpicks and nail clippings.
What Does Not Go In The Green Bin?
Not allowed in the Green Bin are: cloth or material, cotton balls, cotton swabs, diapers, dirt, dryer sheets, feminine hygiene products, kitty litter, liquid food waste (like pickle brine or salad dressings), pet litter and pet waste, compostable or biodegradable bags that look like plastic (as they do not break down quickly enough), rocks, root balls, sanitary products, disposable duster/sweeper cloths, and tree stumps.
