Are you ready for Calgary’s Green Cart Program

Green carts now have the green light for distribution across the city.  Blue carts are for recycling, black for garbage and green carts are for composting which includes kitchen scraps and yard waste.

The composting program was piloted in a few Calgary communities starting five years ago including Southwood, Brentwood, Cougar Ridge and Abbeydale.  Now that the pilot is over, it was found that the City of Calgary was able to reduce household garbage collection by half.  Therefore, the city has deemed the program feasible.

When Will You Get Your Green Cart?

Starting with that south west area of the city, green carts will be delivered beginning June 5.  The north west will get them in July, the north east will receive theirs in August and in September, all homes in Calgary’s south east will have their green carts delivered.

Single-family homes, duplex and fourplexes are eligible for the green carts. That’s 320,000 households in all.  Everyone will have their carts in time for fall clean up.

Get Ready to Pay an Additional Fee

There will be a monthly fee added to Calgary homeowner’s utility bill.  It’s $6.50 a month and will start being included in monthly billing beginning in January 2018.

How Will Green Cart Composting Impact Landfills?

Once the green cart program gets rolling, the City of Calgary believes that in excess of 85 million kilograms of kitchen scraps, food waste and organic material will be turned collected and turned into compost.

When Will Collection Begin?

Collection will beging approximately six weeks after homeowners receive their green cart.  Therefore:

In the south west collection will begin the week of July 17.  In the north west it will start the week of August 14.  In the north east, the week of September 4 and in the south east, residents can expect collection to start the week of October 2.

After that first collection, green carts will be picked up weekly as will your blue carts.  Because it’s hoped that your black cart garbage will be reduced, it will only be collected once every two weeks and that schedule will change from what it is presently.

How Will You Know How to Use Your Green Cart?

In addition to your green cart, the City will make sure you get instructions and other supplies.  It’s a bit more involved that it is with your other carts.  The green cart looks just like your blue cart.  You’ll also get a kitchen pail to keep under your sink.  You’ll get a few compostable bags which you’ll put inside the pail and then you put your waste from the kitchen in the pail.  Just gather up the compostable bag, pull it out of the pail and throw in your green cart.  The City of Calgary will not supply these bags to you after your bags have been used. They can be purchased at the store just like your garbage bags.

You will also get compostable paper bags for yard waste.  These can be used for everything that you can’t put inside the green cart which you should try to fill first.  You’ll also get an instruction guide that will tell you the dos and don’ts of composting and which types of waste you can compost.

What is Allowed in Your Green Cart?

Place scraping, bones, pet waste, vegetables peelings, fruit (without stickers), popsicle sticks – just about anything organic can go in your green cart.  Soiled diapers, for example, can not go in the green cart – or the blue cart for that matter.

There is a comprehensive list on the City of Calgary’s website.