Most Canadian municipalities ask households to split their waste into three or four streams. These notes explain how the streams differ, what belongs in each, and how backyard or balcony composting reduces what reaches the curb.
A common three-cart kerbside setup: a green organics cart, a recycling cart, and a general waste cart. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
The streams
Four common household streams
Organics (green cart)
Food scraps, food-soiled paper, and in many programs yard trimmings. Cities such as Toronto, Vancouver, and Halifax run dedicated organics collection that feeds large-scale composting or digestion facilities.
Recycling (blue stream)
Paper, cardboard, rigid plastics, metal cans, and glass, depending on the local program. Ontario’s blue box system is one of the longest-running curbside recycling arrangements in the country.
General waste (garbage)
What remains after organics and recyclables are removed: items that are soiled, mixed-material, or not accepted locally. Reducing this stream is the practical goal of sorting.
Yard waste
Leaves, grass, and branches. Some municipalities collect these separately on a seasonal schedule; others fold them into the organics cart.
Special & hazardous
Batteries, electronics, paint, and similar items are kept out of all curbside carts and taken to municipal depots or retailer take-back points.
Home composting
A backyard bin or balcony system handles much of the organics stream on-site, returning finished compost to gardens and planters.
A short routine
Sorting in four steps
1
Check your municipal list
Accepted materials differ between neighbouring cities. Start from your municipality’s published waste guide rather than a national assumption.
2
Separate food scraps first
Keeping organics out of the garbage cart is usually the single largest reduction a household can make in landfill-bound waste.
3
Empty and keep recyclables loose
Containers should be reasonably empty; many programs ask that recyclables not be bagged so they can be sorted at the facility.
4
Set aside special items
Batteries, electronics, and chemicals go to depots, not the curb. A small box by the door collects them until a depot trip.
Questions about how a particular item should be sorted, or a correction to something on this site? Use the form and include your municipality if the question is local.
Email: editor@mondexze.org
Postal: Mondexze, PO Box, Toronto, ON, Canada
Reference: Environment and Climate Change Canada publishes national waste guidance at canada.ca.
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