Expanding green bin collection to condos and apartments
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This
new weekly service will help reduce organic waste in landfills
Starting in April, the
City is expanding its weekly green bin collection to multi-residential
buildings in Vaughan that receive municipal waste collection. The new green bin
program – to be completed in phases over two years – is part of an ongoing
effort to reduce waste in condos and apartment buildings. Each participating
household will be supplied with a kitchen compost bin and educational resources
necessary for proper organics storage and disposal.
Bringing the organic waste collection into
condos and apartments will allow solid waste service levels to be in line with
single-family households. Since the introduction
of the green bin program in 2006, the City has seen waste diversion from
landfills steadily improve as citizens continue to redirect two-thirds of their
waste through recycling and organics collection instead.
Among the current 94 multi-residential buildings receiving
recycling and garbage collection in Vaughan, one-third of units either have an
existing private organics program or a three-stream waste sorting system for
garbage, recycling and organics. This group will be the first to receive this
new service.
The organics program minimizes garbage by separating food
waste for composting, which creates nutrient-rich soil that fertilizes farmers’
fields and helps to grow food. Watch the City’s video
on YouTube to learn how to use
the green bin in your condo. For more information, visit vaughan.ca/CondoWaste.
What goes where?
The City continues to provide guidance and direction for
residents who are unsure of what goes where.
Tissues, paper towels and napkins go
in the green bin. All masks and gloves belong in the
garbage.
Blue
boxes with these items will not be picked up by waste collectors. Front-line
workers at York Region’s Materials Recovery Facility sort blue box materials by
hand; when these items are put in with recycling, it places workers in direct
contact with materials potentially contaminated with COVID-19.
What goes in the green bin:
- all food and food scraps
- food-soiled paper products such as tissues, napkins, paper towels and plates
- cut flowers and house plants
What goes in the garbage:
- wipes, masks and gloves
- Styrofoam™
- black plastic
- plastic bags
- coffee cups and coffee pods
- food pouches
What goes in the blue box:
- plastic bottles, jug and containers
- milk/juice cartons and drink boxes (no straws)
- steel/aluminum food and beverage cans, trays, plates and foil
- empty paint and aerosol cans (lids removed)
- unbroken glass bottles and jars
- printed paper (books, magazines, envelopes, etc.)
- cardboard, broken down and flattened (detergent, dry food boxes, etc.)
- corrugated cardboard (flatted and bundled)
Still
unsure? Download the City’s Recycle Coach App through the Apple App
Store or Google Play to help determine what goes where.
When putting items in a blue box,
it’s important to rinse out food from containers. Everyday food items, such as
soup cans, yogurt containers, pop bottles, jam jars and more should be rinsed
to ensure they do not contaminate other clean recyclables. If an item contains
food or food residue, it cannot be recycled and is sent to the landfill for disposal
instead. The waste facility is unable to wash and clean recyclables.
For more
information about City matters, please call Access
Vaughan at 905-832-2281 or visit vaughan.ca.
To
receive the City’s latest COVID-19 updates as they happen, sign up for the City
Update eNewsletter at vaughan.ca/CityUpdate and follow the City’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram channels.
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