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When food scraps end up in a landfill, they create methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Putting your food scraps in your green cart keeps them out of the landfill and allows us to turn them into compost and energy. This helps prevent greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
WasteWise is available in 14 languages.
A food scraps pail makes it easy to collect scraps. If you don’t have one, repurpose another container (like an ice cream pail) or buy one at a local retailer.
All apartment and condo buildings will start receiving food scraps collection by 2027. View the Rollout Map to see when your collection starts at your building. Learn more about the rollout.
Until then, there are several options to keep food scraps out of your garbage:
Compost food scraps at home. Collecting, transporting and processing food scraps uses a lot of energy. Home composting does not. It also creates an excellent product that feeds your soil. Learn how to home compost.
Reduce your food waste. When we waste food, we waste the resources that went into growing, harvesting and transporting it. Some key habits, like planning meals and shopping with a list, can help limit waste. See more food waste reduction tips.
A few simple steps can help minimize odours:
If you notice fruit flies, try the following:
Some items seem like they could go in your food scraps cart, but can actually cause trouble. Please put the following items in your garbage.
All “compostable” plastics, including BPI/BNQ-certified
Compostable plastic items (such as cups, liners and bags) require higher temperatures and longer processing times than food scraps to compost. They do not break down in most industrial composting processes designed for food scraps. This includes the City’s processes and those of our regional partners.
Compostable plastic items are handled like regular plastic items. When food scraps arrive at the Edmonton Waste Management Centre, they are screened to remove plastic contamination. The screening machinery cannot tell compostable plastic items apart from regular plastic items, so all are removed and disposed of as garbage.
The only plastic items (regular or “compostable”) you should put in your food scraps are pail liners. These are ripped open to release food scraps at our processing facility, then sorted out as garbage.
The City provided food scraps pails to residents during the Cart Rollout in 2021. This was to help residents adjust to sorting food scraps from their garbage. We will also provide a pail for each unit in a building as food scraps collection rolls out to apartments and condos.
These pails have a 5-year manufacturer warranty against cracking, warping, discoloration and deterioration. If your City-provided pail is damaged from normal household use, bring it to any 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.
Please note: we do not replace lost pails or provide additional pails.
