I am amazed by this, and wondering what I'm doing wrong. Our set-up sounds similar to Souvy's although recycling and compostables are collected every week. I thought I was pretty good with recycling but we still fill our smallish kitchen bin every two to three days, so we have about 1.5 - 2 black bags a fortnight collected. Will be reading council website to see if I'm missing anything.

I use green lid compost bins on the counter, because they look nice, although perhaps they are a bit spendy really. As are the compostable dog poop bags, but I feel 'ethically' bound to them, now that I know they exist.

How pricey are the compostable dog bags? And do you know the brand?

We use a biodegradable bag which is 7.99 to 9.99 for 4 rolls and a total of 60 bags.

Actually that's made me feel a bit better about them, as they are 10.99 for the same number. They are the 'earth rated' brand. They also do biodegradable ones, which are green (these are white bags) which are a similar price to the ones you buy. I get the compostable ones, and keep a separate green bin outside for them.

I thought the problem with dog turds was that they don't compost, at least, they don't turn into valuable manure as does horse or chicken shit. It seems a bit pointless to have bags that turn to compost if they contain toxic waste.

You might be right about this, but we are definitely allowed to put it in our compostable waste bin. Nappies are also allowed though, which as far as I remember contain plastic, so maybe the compostable bags are unnecessary. Isn't treated sewage used as fertiliser in some places ? Surely dog waste is not much different, particularly as part of a mixed load of municipal compostable waste?

Fortunately I have plenty of horse owning neighbours who are only too willing to supply me with organic fertiliser, so I let the council take care of the poop.

The system has just changed this week here .......

........ City Council is outsourcing the collection of recyclable materials to Multi Material BC, which has contracted Smithrite Disposals to do the actual collecting.

As a result, we have a brand new folder of what we can put where ..............

a sampling of what Smithrite will now be collecting .........

Blue Box ........... plastic or paper take-out cups and bowls +lids; plastic trays and tops (eg fruit trays); metal cans; empty aerosol cans and caps; microwaveable bowls and cans; spiral wound cans and lids (eg frozen juice or chips); plastic packaging for toys, electronics, toothbrushes, etc; rigid plastic clam-shells (eg for fruit, eggs); plastic pails of less that 25 litres (eg laundry detergent, pet food)

Yellow or Blue Bag ........... newspaper, magazines, etc; gift wrap paper; moulded boxboard (eg egg cartons); paper bags with multiple or plastic layers (eg flour, pet food); corrugated cardboard (cut to size if large);

Grey Box ............. all glass containers that re non-returnable.


We have to take to the Recycle Depot ...........

Plastic bags (groceries, dry-cleaning, bread, pre-washed salad; outer bags for diapers, tissues etc; overwrap on mattresses, furniture, etc)

Foam packaging and containers .......


All deposit glass or other containers are to be taken back either to where they were bought or to the Recycle Depot where you are refunded the deposit.


City will continue to collect the compostables every week, and the garbage wheelie every other week.


We manage to keep our garbage down to one half full or less wheelie every 2 weeks.

Our city doesn't permit pet waste, diapers, hygiene products in the compost pick up. Mostly just food scraps, paper pizza boxes and select yard waste.

Not sure if they allow compostable bags though. I know some don't.

Google says that you can compost both dog and cat poop by mixing it with sawdust. It's not to be used of vegetables though - bad bacteria, pathogens and the like.

Human poop is used on our food supplies too. Biosolids they call 'em.

The best way to reduce your recycling is to unwrap everything you've bought and leave the packaging at the store. That might stop them over wrapping everything.

Just did the 'what type of recycler are you?' Quiz on the council website. I scored a pathetic 55/100. Less than the averages scores in Ontario, Canada, USA, UK and Australia. In fact the only examples of lower scores they could find to make me feel better were the City of White Rock, and New Zealand.

In my defence I feel I was unfairly penalised for opting for for wimpy 'think so' answers instead of assertive 'definitely' ones.

Not sure if I just did the same one - it defaulted to Chicago for where I lived - but it had the same summary at the end.

I got 34%.

However, many of my answers are obviously assessed as "not okay" but the answers most definitely are okay here - because they are exactly what the City requires - while in other places they may well be not okay, while some things may be not okay here but are okay in other places. If that makes sense.

Are people in some places really expected to remove the 'windows' from cardboard packaging or was that a red herring (for composting ) to throw people off?

We finally received the official detail for the new system that starts in just over a week.

It's worse than I thought. The original collection schedule was said to be 'mucky' every week with the not mucky every two weeks.

Now it's Green (mucky) and Blue (not mucky) one week and Green (mucky) and Clear (some mucky) the next week then Green/Blue.

So immediately one can see that some mucky - which also means smelly - will have to stay "somewhere" for up to two weeks.

We still have the anomaly in which coffee grounds are green but coffee pods are clear (rather than the blue previously).

We also have 'plastics' including hard plastic packaging in Blue while 'plastics' including cutlery and packaging goes in Clear.

Helpfully , the guidance says that diapers, feminine hygiene products and condoms are preferred in Clear but may go in Green in the week there's no collection for Clear.

Similarly "pet waste" is preferred in Clear but may also go in Green if no plastic attached. Hang on, does this mean the no plastic applies to the diapers too?

And when does pet waste not have plastic attached? You bung it a plastic bag before putting it in the trash don't you? How does it "go" in green without plastic, hold the cat above the green bag while it does its business?

How about that microwave snack. Cardboard box is obviously packaging. Is the container plastic packaging or a dish for Blue bag or plastic packaging for Clear?

Cooking Grease, Oil and fat (all for cooking) are for Green. But at what point does it become cooking oil for Houseold Hazardous waste and none of the above coloured bags?

Stuff that we are not composting ourselves is for compost/Green but pet waste will inevitably involve plastic so that means Clear. Which means we can no longer combine it. Which means not only more containers inside the house but more outside too.

Also, the plastic grocery bags that we used to just put in Blue (if we couldn't recycle/alternate use ourselves) now have to go inside a single bag and tied. It's unclear whether that means in a single blue bag or in - so long as together - a blue bag with other things.

Either way it means an additional bin/bag to go with additional points outside and in.

And this is simplified?

I read the instructions to mean just bung it all in the clear bag

Remember when recycling was taking foil milk bottle tops into school?

They used to call it 'nightsoil' in Hong Kong / China - but that was using the 'raw' waste and urine unlike Biosolids used in the United States, which are treated before being applied to any land.



I have 1 container attached to the back of the door under the sink for general rubbish that can't be recycled and 2 carrier bags (one for plastic/metal, one for paper) on magnetised hooks on the side of the fridge. I keep the blue boxes on the front porch under a cover - fill them up as the bags in the kitchen get full. I must admit I don't 'do' the compostable stuff, but now I've got a composter in the garden that will change. They pick up weekly here in Hamilton, so rarely have an issue with having to deal with huge amounts; I've 2 tall recycling boxes and rarely fill 1/3rd of them and put out a small bag of 'general' rubbish weekly.

We can get free recycling boxes here too, but being car-less it's not quite so simple to collect them from where they are located.



I remember collecting milk bottle caps for school too, lol