Expanded Organics

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Beginning on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, residents who receive RDN curbside collection service can top up their organics cart with leaves, grass and light yard trimmings! Expanding what can go in our organics cart beyond just food waste will provide a more accessible way to dispose of light yard waste.

Please ensure all yard trimmings are no larger than 1.5 cm (0.5 inches) in diameter and no longer than 60 cm (2 feet) in length.

Cart Information

In phase one of the expanded organics program, residents can top-up their 100-litre green-lidded organics cart with leaves, grass and light yard trimmings. In 2024, staff will report to the Board on options for alternative cart sizes based on a number of considerations, including, but not limited to, program participation, material volumes, costs, and resident feedback.

Guidelines for using your green-lidded organics cart:

  • When setting your organics cart out at the curb for pick-up, please leave the lid in the unlocked position if the cart:
    • Is more than 75% (3/4) full; or,
    • Only contains yard waste.
  • Please leave the lid locked when the organics cart is not set-out for collection, unless you have it stored in a garage, shed or other secure location. Thank you for doing your part to keep bears and other wildlife safe.

Continue to follow the standard RDN curbside cart set-out guidelines:

  • Roll your carts out between 5-8 am on your scheduled collection day.
  • Place your carts as close to the roadway as possible, without blocking traffic sidewalks, and bike lanes.
  • Leave at least 1 meter (3 feet) of clearance between the carts and any obstacles, such as parked cars, poles, fire hydrants, etc.
  • Leave 3 meters of clearance above the carts.
  • All material must be placed in the cart with the lid completely closed.
  • Make sure the arrows on the cart lid are pointing toward the street.


Program Benefits and Cost

Collecting yard waste at the curb has several important benefits, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving air quality, and creating a sustainable system for waste diversion. For more information about the benefits, please visit the FAQ.

Our expanded curbside organics program is funded in part by the Province’s CleanBC Fund, which provides funds for GHG emission reduction projects. As such, this program expansion only requires a 1 percent increase (approximately $2 per household) in the curbside utility fee for 2023 and again in 2024, which is separate from the general curbside service fee increase of 3 percent.



WANT TO LEARN MORE?

  • Please register to receive email notifications of expansion milestones and updates.

  • Visit the FAQs to learn about the expansion, what can be put into your organics cart, and more!

  • Do you have a question? Post it below and we will answer for all to see. A great way for all to learn.

  • Want to contact us directly? Contact the project team at curbside@rdn.bc.ca or 250-390-6501.

Beginning on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, residents who receive RDN curbside collection service can top up their organics cart with leaves, grass and light yard trimmings! Expanding what can go in our organics cart beyond just food waste will provide a more accessible way to dispose of light yard waste.

Please ensure all yard trimmings are no larger than 1.5 cm (0.5 inches) in diameter and no longer than 60 cm (2 feet) in length.

Cart Information

In phase one of the expanded organics program, residents can top-up their 100-litre green-lidded organics cart with leaves, grass and light yard trimmings. In 2024, staff will report to the Board on options for alternative cart sizes based on a number of considerations, including, but not limited to, program participation, material volumes, costs, and resident feedback.

Guidelines for using your green-lidded organics cart:

  • When setting your organics cart out at the curb for pick-up, please leave the lid in the unlocked position if the cart:
    • Is more than 75% (3/4) full; or,
    • Only contains yard waste.
  • Please leave the lid locked when the organics cart is not set-out for collection, unless you have it stored in a garage, shed or other secure location. Thank you for doing your part to keep bears and other wildlife safe.

Continue to follow the standard RDN curbside cart set-out guidelines:

  • Roll your carts out between 5-8 am on your scheduled collection day.
  • Place your carts as close to the roadway as possible, without blocking traffic sidewalks, and bike lanes.
  • Leave at least 1 meter (3 feet) of clearance between the carts and any obstacles, such as parked cars, poles, fire hydrants, etc.
  • Leave 3 meters of clearance above the carts.
  • All material must be placed in the cart with the lid completely closed.
  • Make sure the arrows on the cart lid are pointing toward the street.


Program Benefits and Cost

Collecting yard waste at the curb has several important benefits, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving air quality, and creating a sustainable system for waste diversion. For more information about the benefits, please visit the FAQ.

Our expanded curbside organics program is funded in part by the Province’s CleanBC Fund, which provides funds for GHG emission reduction projects. As such, this program expansion only requires a 1 percent increase (approximately $2 per household) in the curbside utility fee for 2023 and again in 2024, which is separate from the general curbside service fee increase of 3 percent.



WANT TO LEARN MORE?

  • Please register to receive email notifications of expansion milestones and updates.

  • Visit the FAQs to learn about the expansion, what can be put into your organics cart, and more!

  • Do you have a question? Post it below and we will answer for all to see. A great way for all to learn.

  • Want to contact us directly? Contact the project team at curbside@rdn.bc.ca or 250-390-6501.

Q&A

Do you have a question for the RDN in regard to this project.  If so, please ask us here.

You need to be signed in to add your question.

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    Can we put garden weeds in your bin now with grass clippings?

    Mitchell asked 7 months ago

    Yes, small plants and trimmings can go into the organics cart, as long as they are no larger than 1.5 cm (0.5 inches) in diameter and no longer than 60 cm (2 feet) in length.

    If pulling from the root, please shake off soil and rocks before placing in your cart.

    The following invasive plants are not accepted in the organics cart:

    • Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum)
    • Invasive Knotweeds (Fallopia x / Polygonum polystachum)
    • Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
    • Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea maculosa)
    • Wild Chervil (Anthriscus sylvestris)
    • Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum (T)
    • Gorse* (Ulex europaeus) 
    • Daphne/Spurge-Laurel* (Daphne laureola)
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    Where can I dispose of a bird-seed bag filled with small medicine dropper bottles and small jars that the Qualicum Beach glass centre will not accept. We need a centre in Bowser area so we do not need to drive to the Church Road facility? Thank you!

    dgeforzerowaste asked 8 months ago

    Dropper bottles and small jars from households are accepted under free drop-off at depots collecting on behalf of Recycle BC.

    Recycle BC is responsible for residential packaging and paper recycling in BC under the provincial Recycling Regulation and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system. EPR is an approach to recycling that requires producers, such as manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to take responsibility for the life cycle of the products they sell and work to keep recyclables out of the landfill.

    Unfortunately, since March 2020, no oceanside-area depots have collected materials on behalf of Recycle BC. You can find the closest depot on our What Goes Where waste wizard.

    The RDN has continuously advocated for the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy (MoECCS) and Recycle BC to improve EPR depot recycling services in the oceanside area. If you wish to provide direct feedback, you can reach out to MoECCS at ExtendedProducerResponsibility@gov.bc.ca and Recycle BC at info@recyclebc.ca.


     

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    Can chipped yard waste be added to the green bin using up to 3/4 inches or 19 mm twigs?

    dgeforzerowaste asked 8 months ago

    Thank you for the question. To ensure the material is compatible with our collection trucks and composting facility, we can only accept light yard waste that is up to 1.5 cm (0.5 inches) in diameter and no longer than 60 cm (2 feet).

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    Honestly 2024 seems a long time to wait as we spend so much money driving waste in bins with our SUV. What about offering those with huge gardens full of the trees you need for the environment extra bins for this pilot project. For 2 years we've had the largest bins already anticipating this program already exhisted. Would you consider some households could be assigned complimentary extra bins (the largest compost) for your study? In our last community we had the blue recycle largest size bin for our yard. Here I have more garden but a mini compost which will do nothing to help the rest of the year. So would you consider some customers to be given 2 extra bins to use in the research?

    Catherine Burnett asked 9 months ago

    Thank you for your question and enthusiasm for composting leaves, grass and light yard trimmings! During Phase 1, all households will be limited to topping up the 100 litre organics cart. Additional and extra organics carts will not be made available to contain project costs and ensure equitable access for the approximately 30,000 households receiving RDN Curbside service.

    We encourage you to subscribe to stay informed on project updates. We will be launching surveys and other engagement opportunities to help inform the recommendations for Phase 2.

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    With expected larger volumes of compost material (specifically grass and leaves from spring cleanup), will there be an increase in the size of our compost containers? Today, while these were HUGE for what the average household would have for weekly compost but with the changes, those same containers may well be insufficient in size to contain what most households will have with grass/leaves/hedge clippings on a weekly basis.

    kevinemartin1 asked 9 months ago

    Thank you for your question, we have answered it in our FAQ: Alternative cart size options will be considered in the 2024 staff report based on participation, resident feedback and material volumes.

Page last updated: 01 Nov 2023, 05:05 PM