When is yard waste collected in Toronto?

The City of Toronto collects yard waste every other week on your regular garbage collection day, from around mid-March to mid-December. There is no yard waste collection in January or February. Christmas trees are collected separately in January. Enter your postal code at trash.supermagicapps.com/yard-waste to see your next collection date.

How do I set out yard waste in Toronto?

Use kraft paper yard waste bags or a rigid open-top container between 55 and 95 cm tall. Plastic bags and cardboard boxes are not accepted. Place it about 0.5 metres from your garbage bin by 7 a.m. on your collection day. Branch bundles must be no longer than 1.2 m, no wider than 0.6 m, under 20 kg, with wood no thicker than 7.5 cm, tied with natural twine — not wire.

Can I put grass clippings in Toronto yard waste?

No. Toronto does not collect grass clippings as yard waste. The City asks residents to leave clippings on the lawn (grasscycling), where they break down and feed the soil. Leaves, twigs, small branches, plant and garden trimmings, weeds, and pumpkins are accepted.

Toronto Yard Waste Collection

🌿 yard waste is collected every other week on your garbage day, from about mid-march to mid-december. enter your postal code to see your next pickup.

When Is Yard Waste Collected?

  season ...... mid-March to mid-December
  frequency ... every other week
  day ......... same as your garbage collection day
  winter ...... none in January or February
  🎄 trees .... Christmas trees collected in January

Yard waste rides along with your bi-weekly garbage pickup, so it lands on the same day you already put garbage out — but only during the March-through-December season. The exact weeks depend on your collection zone, which is why the lookup above is the reliable way to see your next date.

What Counts as Yard Waste

GOES IN YARD WASTE
  leaves
  twigs & small branches
  brush & hedge trimmings
  plant & garden trimmings
  weeds (shake off excess soil)
  flowers & house plants
  pumpkins & corn stalks
  windfall fruit

What Does NOT Go in Yard Waste

GOES SOMEWHERE ELSE
  grass clippings -----> leave on the lawn
  soil, sod, dirt -----> garbage (or a soil depot)
  food & kitchen scraps -> 🟢 green bin
  pet waste -----------> 🟢 green bin
  plastic bags --------> never — see below
  branches over 7.5 cm --> cut down or garbage
  rocks & concrete ----> not collected

Grass clippings are the big one people get wrong. Toronto stopped collecting them — the City wants you to "grasscycle" and leave them on the lawn, where they break down and feed the soil for free.

How to Set It Out

USE
  ✓ kraft paper yard waste bags
  ✓ a rigid open-top bin, 55–95 cm tall
  ✓ (an old blue or grey box works too)

  DON'T USE
  ✗ plastic bags — even "compostable" ones
  ✗ cardboard boxes

  BRANCHES & BRUSH — bundle and tie with twine:
  ✓ max length ...... 1.2 m (4 ft)
  ✓ max width ....... 0.6 m (2 ft)
  ✓ max weight ...... 20 kg (44 lb)
  ✓ wood diameter ... under 7.5 cm (3 in)
  ✗ no wire — natural fibre rope or twine only

  PLACEMENT
  → about 0.5 m from your garbage bin
  → out by 7 a.m. on collection day
    (or after 8 p.m. the night before)

Fall Leaves

Autumn is the busy stretch — leaf collection runs hard through October and November on the same every-other-week schedule. There are no special extra leaf pickups on most streets, so if you generate more than fits in your bags, hold the overflow for your next yard waste week. Bagged leaves in kraft paper bags are collected; raked piles left loose at the curb are not.

Holiday Weeks

Yard waste shifts with everything else. When a statutory holiday falls on or before your collection day that week, pickup — yard waste included — moves forward by one day. See the full holiday schedule for the dates.

never miss yard waste week again.
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