Who collects what now that recycling has changed hands, what the garbage bin really costs, what goes in the green bin, and how to get rid of the awkward things: furniture, paint, batteries and yard waste.
Toronto's household waste system is one of those things everyone uses and few people have read the rules for. That usually works, until the day you have an old couch, half a can of paint, a dead laptop and a bag of leaves, and no idea which of them goes where.
2026 also brought the biggest change in years: the blue bin is no longer a City service. I'm Saliem Talash, I live in Toronto and build practical tools for small businesses, and this page puts the current rules in one place. It covers curbside collection for houses, from the City of Toronto's own pages as of October 2026. Apartment and condo buildings have their own arrangements, so check with your building.
The City's TOwaste app and its online lookup show your collection days. The schedule lookup works for single-family homes, which the City defines as buildings with fewer than nine units, on daytime collection.
The same app includes the Waste Wizard, which the City says sorts "over 2,500 items." When in doubt about one specific thing, type it in. It is faster than guessing and it is the City's own answer.
Since January 1, 2026, residential recycling in Toronto has been run by Circular Materials, not the City. The City's recycling page says that "beginning January 1, 2026, there will be changes to the materials accepted," and that missed pickups and problems with blue bins go to Circular Materials through its website or at 1-888-921-2686, rather than to 311.
Two practical consequences:
If something you used to recycle is now rejected, or vice versa, it may be because of the change, not a mistake. Check the current list on Circular Materials' site.
If your blue bin was missed, calling 311 is the wrong door.
In Toronto the garbage bin is not just a container; it sets your annual fee. The City's 2026 rates for houses are:
Small: Size: 75 L; Annual fee: $317.85
Medium: Size: 120 L; Annual fee: $385.86
Large: Size: 240 L; Annual fee: $524.06
Extra-large: Size: 360 L; Annual fee: $607.86
Bag-only: Size: —; Annual fee: $203.50, plus $6.81 per bag tag
Moving to a bigger bin costs $29.29, and moving to a smaller one is free. Every household also pays an oversized and metal items fee of $23.23 a year "regardless of whether or not the service is used." The City lists rebates for seniors and people with disabilities with household income of $62,000 or less; for a small bin, the rebate is $227.01.
The quiet lesson in that table: the better your household sorts its food scraps into the green bin, the smaller the garbage bin it needs, and the lower the bill. Downsizing costs nothing.
The City's green bin list goes well beyond peels and leftovers. It accepts:
all food;
coffee grounds and tea bags;
tissues and paper towels;
soiled pizza boxes;
diapers and sanitary products;
pet waste and cat litter.
Any plastic bag can be used as a liner. The one surprise: plastics labelled "compostable" or "biodegradable" are not accepted and go in the garbage.
Yard waste is collected "every other week on garbage collection day from around mid-March to mid-November." The season is nearly over for this year, so if you have a fall cleanup planned, plan it soon.
Use kraft paper yard waste bags or rigid open-top containers between 55 and 95 cm tall. Branches go out in bundles no longer than 1.2 m, no wider than 0.6 m, and no heavier than 20 kg. Christmas trees are collected on designated days in January.
Because every house already pays the oversized and metal items fee, there is no appointment and no extra fee. Put the item beside your garbage bin on your collection day, with about half a metre of space between items. Check the Waste Wizard first for anything unusual.
Never put household hazardous waste in any bin. The City has three ways to get rid of it:
Toxic Taxi. A free pickup booked through 311. Each pickup must be a minimum of 10 litres or kilograms and a maximum of 50. It does not take tubes 8 feet or longer.
Drop-off depots, up to 50 litres or kilograms per visit.
Community Environment Days, which "run from April to the end of September." They accept electronics and household hazardous waste up to 50 L/kg, give away free compost, and take donations. The 2026 season has just ended, so look for next year's dates in the spring.
Look up your collection schedule and save it to your calendar.
Search the Waste Wizard for the three things you are never sure about.
Check your garbage bin size against what you actually throw away, and downsize if it is too big.
Put a small green bin caddy in the kitchen and line it with any plastic bag.
Start a box in a closet for batteries and other hazardous items, and book a Toxic Taxi when it reaches 10 kg.
Save the Circular Materials number for blue bin problems.
I write more practical guides to living and working in Toronto on ZELR.
City of Toronto: TOwaste App
City of Toronto: Garbage Bin Sizes and Fees
City of Toronto: Toronto's Recycling Program
City of Toronto: What Goes in My Green Bin
City of Toronto: Yard Waste
City of Toronto: Oversized and Metal Items
City of Toronto: Household Hazardous Waste
City of Toronto: Community Environment Days
Drafted with AI assistance.
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