Welcome to Residential Recycling & Disposal Info for Newcomers!
These are a series of articles to help you learn the right way to recycle, dispose or donate your unwanted items.
Blue Cart
Use your Blue Cart or access a community recycling depot to help keep valuable recyclable materials out of City landfills. Items that should go to your Blue Cart include but are not limited to:
- stretchy plastic bags (bundled up)
- shredded paper (bagged in a see-through bag)
- food containers, e.g. jars, cans, plastic bottles (rinsed and dried)
- cardboard boxes (flattened to create more room), etc.
Black Cart
Use your Black Cart to take out the trash in a safer, cleaner and more efficient way. Items placed in black carts are garbage and will end up in the landfills, and they include but are not limited to:
- non-stretchy bags, e.g. chip bags
- foam containers, e.g. meat trays, takeout containers
- diapers and feminine hygiene products
- bottle caps, plastic plates, forks and spoons, etc.
Green Cart
Use your green cart for compostable items, including but not limited to:
- food or kitchen waste (raw or cooked), e.g. bones, fruit pits, eggshells, plate scrapings, etc.
- food-soiled paper, e.g. used paper plates and tissues, fast food bags, coffee filters, tea bags, etc.
- yard waste, e.g. leaves, twigs, soil, etc.
Word of the Day:
Landfill: a place where garbage is buried and covered over with soil
More information: https://www.calgary.ca/categories/category-environment.html
The City of Calgary has a residential recycling and disposal search tool. Check out the “What Goes Where” list here: https://www.calgary.ca/uep/wrs/what-goes-where/a-to-z-listing.html#P
