The Green Bin Program allows you to put your organic waste out for curbside collection. The organic material will be made into high-quality compost for farmlands and parklands. The Green Bin Program will increase our waste diversion and greatly reduce the amount of garbage we send to landfill. Get with the program!

Check out the Green Bin information card (PDF) for details on what goes in the Green Bin.
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This information card is also available in (PDF): Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, Greek, Gujarati, Italian, Korean , Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Ukrainian, Urdu and Vietnamese.

What goes in the Green Bin?

• Fruits, vegetable scraps
• Meat, shellfish, fish products
• Pasta, bread, cereal
• Dairy products, egg shells
• Coffee grounds, filters, tea bags
• Soiled paper towels, tissues
• Soiled paper food packaging: fast food paper packaging, ice cream boxes, muffin paper, flour and sugar bags
• Paper plates
• Candies, cookies, cake
• Baking ingredients, herbs, spices
• Household plants, including soil
• Diapers, sanitary products
• Animal waste, bedding (e.g. from bird/hamster cages), kitty litter
• Pet food

Line your indoor container or outdoor green bin with a plastic bag. Please line just one or the other - not both. No special bag is required for either collection container. If you wish, you can reuse plastic grocery bags to line your indoor container. Any plastic bag (e.g. green garbage bag) can be used to line your outdoor green bin.

If you have overflow green bin material, please put it in a see-through plastic bag beside your bin, or buy a second bin. We recommend that you put non-food waste (e.g. diapers, animal waste) in this bag and place it out with your green bin by 7:00am the morning of collection.

What does NOT go in the Green Bin (these items do not break down and cannot be turned into compost):

• Plastic wrap, baggies, sandwich bags
• Plastic items such as food containers (e.g. yogurt or margarine tubs), cutlery
• Plastic milk bags
• Styrofoam, meat tray liners
• Foil
• Wax paper
• Candles
• Artificial flowers and plants
• Leather, textiles, clothing
• Rugs, carpets
• Cigarette butts, tobacco
• Corks (from wine bottles, etc.)
• Gum
• Ear cleaners, cotton balls, make-up removal pads, dental floss
• Baby wipes
• Disposable mop sheets
• Dryer lint, dryer sheets
• Vacuum cleaner bags and contents
• Feathers
• Hair, pet fur
• Dead animals
• Fireplace or BBQ ashes
• Wood products, wood chips
• Recyclable materials

More information
Five of the City's official recycling containers can be purchased at any 33 Home Hardware stores in the City of Toronto, 11 City of Toronto Recycling Container Pick-up Locations or at a Community Environment Day.