Residents can purchase a backyard composter and leave grass clippings on the lawn to decrease the amount of leaf and yard waste placed at the curb. These simple actions make a difference in the City’s Green Directions Vaughan Community Sustainability and Environmental Master Plan and York Region’s Waste Management Master Plan called the SM4RT Living Plan. 

Collection

Leaf and yard waste is collected seasonally and waste must be bundled, bagged or set out in waste containers (without lids) marked "Yard Waste". 

 

Protect yard waste bags from getting wet!

Overweight or broken bags cannot be collected. Keep your bags dry and only set out on collection day.

Yard waste must be placed at the curb no earlier than 6 p.m. the night before and no later than 7 a.m. on the day of collection. The time of collection can change without notice. Companies hired for lawn care services must be notified of these requirements. 

 

Acceptable bags, bundles and bins

• Kraft paper bags designed for leaf and yard waste material 
• Designated open-top rigid containers such as regulation sized garbage containers marked 'Leaf and Yard Waste'  
• Individual branches must be a maximum of 10 centimetres (four inches) in diameter
• Branches must be tied with string (no wire) in secure bundles maximum 1.5 metres (five feet) in length and 0.6 metres (two feet) in diameter
  

Unacceptable containers

• Plastic bags 
• Cardboard boxes 
• Oversized rigid containers 
• Green bins 
• Recycling blue boxes
• Rigid containers with lids 
• Bundles tied with wire

What goes in yard waste?

• Leaves
• Branches
• Twigs
• Flowers and plants
• Vegetable garden waste
• Shrubs
• Weeds

• Pumpkins
• Straw
• Cornstalks

• Stumps and root balls
• Soil, rocks, or stones
• Grass clippings

Grasscycling