Keep your bins in: Green cart collection switching to bi-weekly

Halloween is over, the leaves are falling, and the City of Calgary has shifted green bin pick-up to a winter collection schedule — winter most definitely is coming.

The City of Calgary announced in an October 30 tweet that the weekly pick-up of green carts would be switched to bi-weekly as of November — and no, we don’t mean twice a week.

Starting in November, green cart collection will move to every other week.

Stay on top of your collection schedule by signing up for free email or text notifications or by downloading our reminder app. Visit https://t.co/jhiecHq8tj

— City of Calgary (@cityofcalgary) October 30, 2019

The shift is due to less yard waste being put into the carts during the colder seasons, as all those blades of grass, leaves, and trimmings will likely be stuck under a few layers of snowfall throughout the coming months.

Calgarians will need to check the city’s website to see when their new green cart collection day will land on, as new collection routes will be in effect along with the shifted schedule.

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The pick-up is definitely not something you’ll want to forget, as just one missed pick-up could mean a banana peel sticking around the side of the house for close to a month before finally being taken away.

Carts will still need to be placed by the roadside by 7 am on collection day, and only a few households will have their black and blue bin pick up schedule changed — so it’s recommended to check the city’s website just to be sure.

Phone, email, and text alerts can be signed up for at the city’s website, or by downloading the Garbage Day app.

And no, Calgarians will unfortunately not be getting a refund for fewer pick-ups this winter, as the monthly green cart fee already factors those savings into the consistent monthly fee.

“It is not a ‘per collection’ fee, but covers the entire cost of the green cart program including year-round facility operation and equipment like collection trucks and carts,” the city’s website states. If you’d like to know a little more, you can always check out the residential waste rates portion of their website.