Get a green bin
Organics recycling is an important part of the City of Ottawa’s long term Waste Strategy. Diverting residential organic waste away from landfill saves the City millions of dollars and reduces the need for additional landfill sites.
Your green bin is now being collected each and every week, 52 weeks a year.
- If you are new to Ottawa or your green bin is missing or stolen, please call 3-1-1 or email 311@ottawa.ca for a coupon to redeem at any Canadian Tire store to get a new bin.
- For residents in apartment and multi-unit buildings, green bins may soon come to YOUR building. Contact your property manager for more information.
- If your green bins or kitchen containers are damaged or broken, please call 3-1-1 or email 311@ottawa.ca.
- Residents must return the broken or damaged container at the store. When returning a broken or damaged green bin or recycling box to Canadian Tire, please ensure the container is completely empty of waste and properly cleaned out.
- Additional green bins or kitchen containers can be purchased at Canadian Tire.
Do not use other bins for collection
Please use the City of Ottawa green bin for collection. The bins have been specially designed and tested and are fitted for pick up by an automatic lifter on the collection vehicles.
Need paper liners for the green bin or kitchen container?
While it’s not necessary to use paper liners for your green bin, they are available at most major retailers. You can also use leaf and yard waste paper bags in the larger green bin.
Paper liners are available for sale at:
- Canadian Tire
- Giant Tiger
- Home Depot
- Home Hardware
- Loblaws
- Metro
- Rona
- Sobeys
- Zellers
- Costco
Alternatives to purchasing liners
- Some residents may find using liners will help keep their bins neat, or contents from freezing to the bin during winter.
- Use newspaper or any other paper-based product (like cereal boxes or waxed milk cartons) to line the bottom of your container(s). Wrapping items in newsprint or flyers prior to placement in the green bin will also help to keep the containers clean.
- Make a home-made bin liner [PDF - 13 KB] from old newspaper.
- The City's Green Bin program does not accept compostable or biodegradable plastic bin liners.
Approved containers
For more details on approved container sizes, visit the City’s Solid Waste By-law.