Monday was the first green bin pickup day in some neighbourhoods, and all green bin users throughout the city are scheduled to get their organic waste picked up for the first time within the next two weeks.Monday was the first green bin pickup day in some neighbourhoods, and all green bin users throughout the city are scheduled to get their organic waste picked up for the first time within the next two weeks. (CBC)

Green bin liners sold out at many hardware stores across Ottawa as local residents prepared for the city's first regular pickup of kitchen scraps and kitty litter for composting.

Monday was the first green bin pickup day in some neighbourhoods, and all green bin users throughout the city are scheduled to get their organic waste picked up for the first time within the next two weeks.

What's in, what's out

The green bin can take many different types of organic waste, including leaves and yard cuttings, food-soiled paper products, used tissues, meat, dairy products, cooking oil and kitty litter, the city says. However, materials containing plastic are banned, including diapers, sanitary products and plastic bags.

According to the City of Ottawa, about 45 per cent of the garbage (by weight) set out by the average Ottawa household is compostable organic material that can be put into the green bin. More details are available on the city's green bin program website.

Melissa Doorbar, assistant manager of the Home Hardware store in the Glebe neighbourhood, said paper liner bags for the bins have been sold out for days.

"We, I guess, underestimated how popular it was going to be," she said. "We got a lot in before Christmas, but we've just been completely wiped out."

Four Home Depot outlets and three Canadian Tire stores contacted by CBC News had sold out even earlier.

Doorbar expects 2,000 more packages of small and large liners to arrive on Wednesday.

Some customers who have tried the larger bags, which retail for more than a dollar each, said they aren't completely satisfied. Catherine Harris said the larger ones are too big for the bins provided by the city.

Marilyn Journeaux, director of solid waste operations, said there are simple alternatives to the commercial liners.

"I just used newsprint or a cereal box and fill it with the organic material," she said Monday. "I find that just as easy as buying a bag."

E-waste disposal

The city no longer accepts the following waste for regular garbage pickup:

  • Televisions.
  • Desktop computers and terminals.
  • Monitors.
  • Laptop computers.
  • Desktop printers.
  • Fax machines.
  • Disk drives.
  • CD-ROM drives.
  • Keyboards and mice.

Instead, they can be dropped off at 17 locations across the city, which can be found at dowhatyoucan.ca.

Journeaux said people can also prevent wet or sloppy material from sticking to the inside of the bin by spraying it with vegetable oil. She also recommends putting a menthol rub on the rim to discourage animals from trying to get in.

The waste picked up in January will be sent to compost processing facilities near Kingston and Moose Creek until a composting plant in Ottawa is ready. That facility, run by Orgaworld Canada, is scheduled to start accepting waste on Jan. 27.

As of Jan. 1, the City of Ottawa has made one other change to its waste collection — it will no longer be accepting electronic waste, including televisions, computers, computer peripherals such as printers and keyboards, and fax machines. Instead, residents will have to drop them off at one of 17 locations across the city that will recycle the waste.