Calgary composting: green cart collection begins in northwest week of Aug. 14

The City of Calgary will begin collecting green cart composting bins from about 100,000 thousand homes in the city’s northwest this week.

Calgarians already use blue bins for recycling and black bins for their garbage.

The green carts, which are the same size as the blue and black bins, will be used for all food and yard waste including meat, bones, plate scrapings, tree branches and pet waste.

Starting the week of Aug. 14, green and blue carts in northwest Calgary will be picked up every week, while black carts will be picked once every two weeks.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

“One of the biggest adjustments for residents is going from one to two collection days a week,” spokesperson Philippa Wagner said in a news release. “But we have tools to help them out.”

Free collection day reminders are available through the Calgary Garbage Day app, or by text, email, phone call or downloadable calendars.

The reminders can be set up at calgary.ca/collection.

“We’ve seen a big uptake in residents signing up to receive free automated reminders about when to roll out their carts for collection,” Wagner added.

Green cart collection began in the southwest the week of July 18.

“In the first few weeks of the program, we’ve already begun composting over two million kilograms of food and yard waste,” Wagner added. “That’s 50 per cent more than we were anticipating.”

“We’re thrilled with residents’ enthusiasm for the program. The majority are adapting well to this new routine and are quickly seeing how little garbage is left.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We're thrilled with residents' enthusiasm for the program. The majority are adapting well to this new routine and are quickly seeing how little garbage is left."

For more information about the Green Cart program, visit calgary.ca/greencart.