Your Role in Apartment and Condo Collection

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A person placing their food scraps pail in a kitchen cupboard.

Food scraps and recycling collection is coming to all apartments and condos between fall 2023 and the end of 2027! Exact timing will depend on the area of the city your apartment or condo is located.

Shortly before food scraps and recycling collection begins at your building, you will receive a food scraps pail, a What Goes Where (Apartment and Condo Collection) poster and an educational booklet to help you get started. A Waste Outreach Educator will also visit your home to answer your questions.

Correctly sorting and setting out waste in apartments and condos is a shared responsibility.

Food Scraps and Recycling Collection

Food scraps and recycling collection is coming to all apartments and condos between fall 2023 and 2027!

The rollout will happen in 4 phases, starting in Southeast Edmonton. Learn which phase your area falls in.

View Rollout Map

Getting Prepared

Resident Toolkit

Apartment and Condo Collection is Changing
Sorting Your Recycling
Sorting Your Food Scraps
How to Sort Your Waste
Resident Booklet
Is your apartment or condo building currently transitioning to 3-stream waste collection? If so, this guide is for you.
New Move-in Booklet
Did you recently move into an apartment or condo building that has already transitioned to the 3-stream waste collection, and you need to understand how to sort and dispose of your waste? If so, this guide is for you.
What Goes Where (Apartment and Condo) Poster
WasteWise App
The WasteWise app helps residents learn which waste items should be reused, recycled, taken to an Eco Station or placed in the garbage.
Oops Tag
Collectors will attach this tag to a communal bin if they are unable to collect it.
“Use Other Bin” poster
Display this poster at waste disposal sites if you notice that one set of bins is filling up faster than others.

Recycling

Put your recyclables in your building's blue recycling bin. They can be loose or in blue bags. If you do not have a recycling bin, you can take your recyclables to your nearest Recycling Depot or Eco Station.

Flatten boxes. This saves space in your bin and ensures there is enough room for everyone’s recyclables.
Recycle the right stuff. Not sure if an item is recyclable? Search it in WasteWise.
Keep recyclables clean, loose and dry. This makes them easier to sort and recycle.
Do not put Styrofoam in your recycling bin. Please put it in your garbage. You can also take large pieces to an Eco Station for recycling.

Learn more about recycling

The Importance of Flattening Boxes

It’s important to flatten boxes before you throw them into the recycling bin.

As you and your neighbours adapt to the three-stream waste sorting system, you should notice more being put into the recycling bin and less into the garbage bin.

Cardboard boxes take up a lot of space. It’s important that you flatten these boxes prior to throwing them into the recycling bin. Unflattened cardboard boxes can cause the bin to fill up quickly and risk the bin overflowing. Overflowing bins cannot safely be serviced by waste collectors and will not be emptied.

Did you know? An unflattened box takes up roughly 10 times more space than a flattened one.

Food Scraps Disposal Options

Put your food scraps in your building's green food scraps cart or bin. If your building doesn’t have food scraps collection yet, you can dispose of your food scraps a few different ways:

Drop them off at an Eco Station
Talk to a friend, family member or neighbour about using their food scraps cart
Compost your food scraps at home
Continue to put them in your garbage

Learn more about food scraps

Food Scraps Processing

Food scraps from apartments and condos are currently being tipped at the Integrated Processing and Transfer Facility (IPTF) and processed at the Anaerobic Digestion Facility at the Edmonton Waste Management Centre. Garbage from apartments and condos is also processed in this way. During pre-processing, food scraps are extracted from garbage and processed into compost.

This approach will help us manage contamination in the early stages of the rollout. Staff are assessing and recording the contamination level of each load of food scraps collected from apartments and condos. This information will help us establish a long-term plan for efficient processing

Moving Out?

Furniture and large, bulky waste needs to be taken to an Eco Station or the Edmonton Waste Management Centre. Waste dumped beside bins will not be picked up by collectors, and may lead to missed collections or extra costs to property managers.

If your unwanted items are in good condition, give them away, list them online, or check the Reuse Directory to find a local non-profit that accepts them.

Damaged Food Scraps Pails

If your City-provided pail is damaged from normal household use, bring it to an Eco Station or to the Reuse Centre and we’ll exchange it for free.

Your pail must be clean and include all parts: body, lid and handle
We do not replace lost pails or provide additional pails

Report a Problem

If you see something wrong with your building’s waste collection, like an overfilled bin or a vehicle blocking access to your property’s bins, please contact your property manager.

If you see someone illegally dumping waste, record as much information as you can and report it through 311. Large items placed beside a bin will not be collected.

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