Organics & Composting

Waste diversion is a community issue so it takes a community to find a solution!

Based on waste audits at the Wetaskiwin Sanitary Landfill, more than half of what we throw into waste carts is organic material and can go into the green carts. The introduction of the green cart program means the organics material can be diverted from landfill and help meet our waste diversion targets.

A green cart program will also prolong the life of our landfill, help reduce landfill greenhouse gasses and leachate emissions which contribute to climate change. It also provides another option for residential food waste management.

The green cart will be collected weekly from May to October and bi-weekly from November to April. Green cart collection will take place on the same day as your blue or grey (waste) carts.

• Kitchen catchers — Each household will be provided a kitchen catcher with their green cart. The kitchen catcher can be used on your countertop, under your sink, or wherever is most convenient for you to collect your kitchen waste. Simply collect organic materials generated in your home in the kitchen catcher and empty it into the green cart when full.
• Bagging materials — Organic materials can be placed loosely in your cart, in regular paper bags, compostable bags, or even in larger paper yard waste bags. Plastic bags will not be accepted in this program. Remember not to overfill your green cart, the lid must close.

Your green cart contents must not exceed 100 kilograms (220 lbs). If you can easily roll the cart, it should be okay for collection. If the cart is too heavy, please remove materials from it until it is easy to roll and return the materials to the cart after it is emptied.

There is no opt out of the curbside organics program. 

Waste diversion is a community issue — so it takes a community to find a solution! Like many other municipalities, to plan and operate the program efficiently, it needs to be universally implemented across the entire community.

There is no additional cost for the organics collection service for 2024. Service costs are reviewed annually, and there is an inflationary increase as part of the contract. The kitchen catchers and green carts for this program were purchased using money the City saved by switching to Environmental 360 Solutions Ltd. (E360S) for waste collection services in 2023.

We encourage you to continue your backyard composter. Waste diversion is a community issue so it takes a community to find a solution! 

If you already have a backyard composter, feel free to keep using it and use your green cart for all the items you can't place in your composter such as meat, fish, shellfish, bones, dairy products, cooked food, cooking grease and oils, fast food packaging, paper plates, napkins, and soiled pizza boxes (just to name a few). In addition, backyard composters have a limited capacity and the processing time limits the amount of material that can be diverted. 

Backyard composting can become dormant in winter months and may not allow the materials to decompose. The green cart program allows for year-round collection of organic material.

The green cart is a more efficient way to dispose of organic waste than your garburator.

You're able to dispose of things like meat, bones, paper towel, and soiled food boxes. Much more than you can fit or should put down your sink and send to the Wetaskiwin Wastewater Treatment Plant for processing.

Plus, when you send oils, grease and fats down your sink, this can result in blockages or 'fatburgs' in the sewer system.

Garburators also use lots of water, which you'll see as a cost on your utility bill. Sending solid waste down your sink may also lead to potential plumbing problems down the road.

Apartments and condominiums are currently not included in the City’s organics collection.

Diseased branches, noxious weeds, and elm wood are not accepted in the Curbside Organics Program. Instead, please bag, tie up, and place these materials in your waste cart. A list of provincially regulated weeds is available on the Government of Alberta website.

Branches larger than five (5) centimetres in diameter and one (1) metre in length are also not allowed in the green cart. These should be broken down into smaller pieces before placing them in your green cart.

• If you can, store your green cart outside in a shady spot on your property.
• Use odour absorbers or neutralizers. Sprinkle baking soda, use a few drops of essential oils, or spray air freshener into your organic waste.
• Freeze or refrigerate your organic waste and throw it into your green cart the night before collection day.
• Rinse your cart on your property with a hose and pour the water onto your grass, gravel, or garden. Do not pour dirty water onto the street, down the storm drain, or onto other properties.

In the colder months, wet organic material can freeze to the inside of your green cart. Follow these tips to prevent material from sticking inside the cart: 

• Put crumpled flyers, newspaper, paper bags, or soiled pizza boxes in the bottom of your green cart before putting in any food or yard waste. 
• Alternate between layers of food/yard waste and paper products. 
• Store wet kitchen scraps in paper liners. Use a broom handle or a long stick to dislodge frozen material from the bottom or sides of your cart. 
• Keep your organics in a paper bag in the freezer and deposit the bag into your cart before collection day. 
• If possible, store your cart in sunlight during the colder months.

The City provided each household with one 8-litre kitchen catcher at the start of the program. Kitchen catchers are available for purchase through most big-box stores or by calling the Operations Facility at 780.361.4436.

If you happen to put something in your green cart that should have been left out, our Waste team may leave you an "oops tag" that will give you information on what you did wrong. On the following pickup date, your cart will be inspected again. If there is still material that is not acceptable, the cart will not be picked up that week.

Organics are classified as food waste, yard waste, approved paper products (including food-soiled paper products), and pet waste. These get categorized as items that are made of natural materials and can be broken down into compost. A good general rule of thumb is: if the material came from something that was once living, it can probably go in your green cart.

Green cart inspections happen regularly, and if your cart wasn’t collected, it likely means that an inspection found your cart to be contaminated — meaning that it contained non-compostable waste or recyclable material, which can contaminate an entire truckload of organics, resulting in all of it being landfilled rather than repurposed into valuable compost.