Collection Issues

Top 5 tips to ensure your items are collected

1. Set your items out by 7 a.m. on your collection day. Use this link to check your collection day, services and upcoming collection schedule.
2. Properly sort and prepare your items. Check Waste Whiz, our online search tool, to find out how to prepare specific items for collection. Use this sorting guide. Use approved collection containers. Stay within the weight limit of 23 kilograms (50 pounds) for each blue box, green bin, garbage bag or can, bundle, and yard waste item. Check the tips below and adjust how you set your items out to maximize collection during cold or stormy conditions.
3. Stay within the set out limits for garbage and bulky items.
4. Keep it safe. Please, do not set out hazardous items.
5. Ensure your items are visible and accessible. Do not set your items on top of snowbanks, or behind parked cars.

Troubleshooting guide to "Oops!" stickers and common collection issues

When an item has been set out on time and not collected, the collection crew will leave a sticker to  indicate why it wasn't collected.

Below is a troubleshooting guide that shows each type of sticker, how to deal with items that were not collected, and how to prevent getting a sticker.

Oops! Wrong week:  Garbage, bulky items and appliances, and seasonal yard waste are not collected every week. Bring in your item(s) and put them back out on your next scheduled collection day.

Please note also that Christmas trees have a specific collection period. Check the Holiday/Christmas trees schedule.

Oops! No allowed:  An item may not be allowed due to health and safety issues, by-law requirements, or it may not be something that we collect curbside. Recyclable containers can't be in a plastic bag, and all blue box items must be in an approved blue box, not a storage bin or cardboard box.  Check the Waste Whiz for details on how to properly prepare dispose of your item.

Oops! Not bundled properly:  Items that need to be bundled, such as cardboard, wood or branches, need to be sized and tied correctly for collection crews to pick up safely and to fit into their trucks. Check the Waste Whiz for details and properly prepare the bundles for your next collection day.

Oops! Too heavy:  Each blue box, green bin, garbage bag/can, bundle, and yard waste item must be no heavier than 23 kilograms (50 pounds). If your item exceeds the weight limit, split up the material into separate containers/bundles and set out on your next collection day.

Some bulky items and appliances have different weight limits. Please check Waste Whiz for details, and prepare the item for set out (or drop off) according to the instructions provided.

Oops! Too many:  There are limits on the number of garbage cans/bags and bulky items/appliances you can set out for collection.

Please:

• Check the limits for garbage and bulky items.
• Use a garbage tag for each garbage bag/can you set out that is above the limit.
• Bring in the items that were left, and set out on your next scheduled collection day within the limits. Option: Bring extra items to a Regional waste management site. Fees will apply.

Oops! Contents were frozen: Items could not be collected because they were frozen to the container at the time of collection.

Tip: Ensure your organics keep loose and are easy to empty out by draining liquids before placing organics in the bin, using liner bags, layering paper organics with food scraps, and/or placing a paper egg carton or paper beverage take-out tray on the bottom of your green bin.

How to set out items for collection in cold and snowy conditions

• Keep pedestrians, vehicles and our collection crews safe! Do not put green bins, blue boxes and garbage containers on top of or behind snowbanks, on sidewalks, or buried in the snow.

• Keep containers visible and easily accessible for collection crews. Place them either at the end of your driveway or shovel a ledge in the snowbank near the end of your driveway for your containers. Please make sure it's on the road-side, not the sidewalk-side.

• Do not set out garbage in white garbage bags.

• Ensure your organics keep loose and are easy to empty out by draining liquids before placing organics in the bin, using liner bags, layering paper organics with food scraps, and/or placing a paper egg carton or balled up newsprint on the bottom of your green bin. If you use a green bin liner bag, loosen it from the sides of the bin when you set it out for collection.

• Place items out the day of collection by 7 a.m., rather than the night before.

Thanks for helping to make collection safe and efficient.

How to set out items in windy or stormy conditions

• Don't set items to the curb the night before collection if a storm or high winds are expected. Place your items at the curb by 7 a.m. on the day of collection.

• Save lightweight items for your next collection day.

• Prepare your blue box materials so that they do not blow away:

  • Crush containers so they fit better in the blue box, and aren't as easily lifted by wind.

  • Stuff all plastic bags in one bag and tie the handles of the outer bag.

  • Put paper in a plastic grocery bag and tie the handles of the bag.

  • Flatten, size, and bundle all boxes, such as corrugated cardboard.

  • Stack your blue boxes. Place your Paper Products and Plastic Bags blue box on top of your Containers Only blue box.   

• Write your address on your blue boxes, green bin, and garbage can in permanent marker. This makes it easier for them to be returned.

Thanks for preventing litter in our community!