Curbside Food Scraps and Yard Waste

Accepted Material: 

Food scraps:
 - All food scraps (including meat, grains and dairy)
 - Prepared food (leftovers) 
 - Shells (egg shells, seafood shells)
 - Bones
 - Coffee and paper tea bags
 - Small amounts of fat, oil, and grease

Compostable food-soiled paper products that are not recyclable. Examples include:
 - Food-soiled paper napkins and paper towels (NO toilet paper or tissues please)
 - Food-soiled newsprint (used to line a kitchen catcher)
 - Paper bags designed for food scraps
 - Paper towel
 - Coffee grounds and filters
 - Paper tea bags (rip tea bag to see if paper, plastic tea bags can be emptied and placed in garbage)
 - Paper plates
 - Wooden chopsticks, skewers, popsicle sticks 

Yard Waste:
 - Grass clippings 
 - Leaves 
 - Garden plants and plant trimmings (eg. corn and tomato stocks)
 - Branches and prunings
 - Pine needles and cones
 - Yard & Garden Waste material up to a maximum diameter of 5 cm (2 inches) and 1 metre (3 feet) in length. 

Materials Not Accepted: 

• 'Compostable' or 'Biodegradable' plastics including plastic bags 
• Soil, rock, or tree stumps;
• Animal feces or kitty litter;
• Invasive plants or infested vegetation;
• Regular garbage;
• Construction or renovation materials;
• Agricultural or commercial waste; 
• Landscape fabric or plastic edging; and
• Plastic flower pots.

Residential Food Scraps and Yard Waste Collection Details

• Collected on your scheduled collection day.
• Please ensure your carts are out by 7:00am, and your carts are properly placed.
• Place  in Green lidded cart. Recyclables or Garbage Material is not accepted in your Food Scraps and Yard Waste cart.
• Food Scraps can placed in loose or placed in compostable paper bags or wrapped in newspaper. No plastic bags including 'compostable' plastic bags.  
• All Yard & Garden Waste should be loose within the cart and not in bags. Bags outside Yard & Garden Waste carts will not be collected.
• Avoid over-packing your cart as tightly packed materials may not empty in collection trucks when tipped. You should be able to close the lid of your cart without difficulty. 
• Visit the Cart Change Out page to learn more about changing your cart size.

Extra Yard & Garden Waste suggestions:

• Bring it to the Landfill. There is a $1.50 minimum charge, and a fee of $25.00 per metric tonne per load.
• There is a minimum charge of $5.00 for branches, prunings and tree stumps over .6m diameter, and a fee of $90.00 per metric tonne per load.
• Purchase 'tag-a-bag' stickers from Municipal Hall for $2.50 each, and place them on a container or kraft paper bag, with the sticker clearly visible. Put the bag/container out beside your Yard & Garden Waste cart.
• Yard & Garden Waste carts come in 120L, 240L (base size), and 360L sizes. For more information on upsizing, downsizing, or removing your Yard & Garden Waste cart, click here.

What happens if I don't follow the Guidelines? 

Failure to adhere to curbside collection details will result in carts being stickered by our waste hauler and not being collected. To ensure curbside materials are collected, please follow guidelines above. If you believe collection has been missed for another reason, click here to learn more.

The District of Summerland reminds residents to be wildlife smart. Click here to learn more about wildlife attractants and how to avoid enticing wildlife.