Make Use of Your Green Bin!

Keep food scraps out of the landfill and catch basins

Almost 60 per cent of food waste in Ontario gets sent to landfills, where it creates harmful greenhouse gases that pollute our environment. That’s why it’s important to sort your waste properly. Place your food scraps into the green bin, not the garbage. By doing so, you’ll help create nutrient-rich fertilizer for farmers’ fields that grow our food.

Here are examples of food scraps that – if they can’t be repurposed – should go in the green bin:

• banana peels
• coffee grounds
• eggshells
• fats, oils and grease
• meat and seafood bones
• nutshells
• steeped tea bags or tea leaves
• tomato and grape skins

You can also place other organic items, such as diapers, napkins, paper towels, pet waste, tissues and cut flowers in the green bin.

Wooden crates and bushel baskets should be bagged and placed in the garbage – they cannot go in the green bin. 

Never dispose of fruit or vegetable peels or other food products down a drain or catch basin. Doing this can cause costly blockages and damages to the City of Vaughan’s stormwater or wastewater systems.

Try backyard composting!

Fruit and vegetable peels, grass clippings and yard waste – these are all materials that can go in a backyard composter.

By turning organics into compost and using it in gardens and farmlands, we can create healthy soils that produce healthier food and higher yields. Compost also reduces the need to use fertilizer and pesticides, improves water quality, conserves water, and stores carbon in soil – all of which help combat climate change. Composting can also decrease your household’s curbside waste by up to 30 per cent. 

Get started by buying a backyard composter from the City at vaughan.ca/ServiceVaughan today.

Check what goes where

If you don’t know where to dispose of an item, use the online ‘What Goes Where?’ sorting tool to check using the search function. You can also download the free Recycle Coach app from the Apple App Store or Google Play for more sorting help. The app also provides waste-less tips and a personalized collection schedule with optional alerts on what to put at the curb each week. 

For more tips and a list of materials that can and can’t go in the green bin, visit vaughan.ca/GreenBin. To learn more about the City’s waste collection services, visit vaughan.ca/waste.

For updates and news as they happen, subscribe to Vaughan News and follow the official corporate channels on X, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.