Why did the City launch the Green Bin Program?
Since the City-owned Keele Valley landfill site closed on December 31, 2002, all the City's garbage is trucked to a private landfill in Michigan. Closing Toronto's landfill site increased disposal costs by more than 300 per cent. About one-third of our garbage is organic material - material that can be processed into compost for use on farms and parklands instead of being sent to landfill. The purpose of the Green Bin Program is to divert these organic materials from Michigan landfill and turn them into compost.

1. The Green Bin Program changes the single-family households participate in the City's garbage and recycling programs: The City delivered two new containers to your door (a smaller one for the kitchen and a larger green bin for the curb). Instructions were delivered to your door explaining in detail about how the Green Bin Program works.
2. Garbage is collected every other week. All of the "smelly" garbage will be collected in the organics container every week..
3. There should only be a few items left in your garbage (plastic wrappers, old running shoes, etc.) for bi-weekly collection.

History
Established by the City of Toronto, in January 2001, the Waste Diversion Task Force 2010 began work on a 'made in Toronto' solution for waste diversion. The Task Force 2010 targeted a goal of 30 per cent diversion by 2003, 60 per cent by 2006 and 100 per cent by 2010. One of the key proposals in the Task Force report, "Beyond Landfill: A Diverting Future", included a system, now called The Green Bin Program.

This new 'three stream collection system involving source separation of organics,' will be key to helping the City achieve its goal of achieving the City's revised diversion goal of 70% by 2010.