Kitchen Scraps & Garbage Program

 

Your garbage day is about to get a lot greener

At the City of Victoria, we're gearing up for changes to residential garbage collection and the addition of kitchen scraps collection starting in February 2013.

  • Starting in February 2013, kitchen scraps and garbage will be collected from your backyard every two weeks, and the empty bins will be left at the front of your property.
  • By separating kitchen scraps from garbage 1/3 of what was "garbage" will be diverted from the landfill and composted instead.
  • The annual cost of the standard Kitchen Scraps and Garbage program will now be $183 per residential unit, per year- a $19 reduction in cost from your current garbage only service ($202).
  • New trucks are being ordered to replace the older trucks and to allow for the pick-up of both garbage and kitchen scraps.
  • New standardized collection bins that work with the new trucks will be supplied to every household.


Request a Helping Hand:   If you have a mobility challenge and are unable to return your empty bins to their original location, please call 250.361.0448 to request this service. 

What goes in my Green Bin?

Kitchen scraps include:

  • Food leftovers: including meat, fish, poultry, bones, dairy products, bread, solidified fats and grease, fruit and vegetables and plate scrapings.
  • Soiled paper products: including paper towels and tissues, food packaging such as used paper cups and plates.

 

 

What goes in my Grey Bin?

Garbage includes:

  • Make-up remover pads, cotton swabs and balls
  • Dental floss, rubber bands
  • Dryer sheets, lint
  • Cigarettes and butts
  • Vacuum contents and bags
  • Pet food bags and other lined bags
  • Foil chip and cookie bags
  • Butter wrappers
  • Bagged pet feces or litter
  • Hair
  • Bread clips or ties
  • Diapers, baby wipes
  • Sanitary hygiene products

Why a new Kitchen Scraps and Garbage program? 

  • Less waste: By taking kitchen scraps out of the garbage, Victoria will reduce the amount of material going to the landfill by 30%, diverting as much as 1,500 tonnes of organics from the Hartland Landfill each year.
  • Use less/pay less: The new system will allow you to choose a standard, smaller or larger grey bin for garbage, allowing people with less garbage to pay less.
  • Local compost: Your kitchen scraps will become fertilizer or compost.
  • Smaller carbon footprint: Kitchen scraps create greenhouse gases in our landfill. By composting our kitchen scraps, we will shrink our community's carbon footprint.
  • Safer: The risk of worker injury will be reduced through the use of mechanically-lifted bins.

 

 

Questions and Answers:

When we get questions about this program we post the answers up here:  Questions & Answers.

For more information:

If you have questions please call 250-361-0448 or email greenbin@victoria.ca.