When GFL, the collection contractor, notifies the RDKB to interruptions in garbage and green bin service we will post on our website and social media any updates that we have. The RDKB will also inform the municipality offices of the effected areas. Thank you for your patience.

Garbage and Green Bin
Garbage and green bins are pickup up on the same day every week. Download a garbage and green bin collection schedule below or contact us to have a copy mailed to you.

• ​Kootenay Region
• Christina Lake
• Christina Lake Boat Access Residents – Garbage & Recycling Schedule
• Area D/Rural Grand Forks & City of Grand Forks
  (includes the Yard & Garden Waste collection schedule for the City of Grand Forks)
• Area E/West Boundary, Midway & Greenwood

Blue Box Recycling
Download a Blue Box Recycling guide and schedule below or contact GFL Environmental to have one delivered:

• Blue Box Recycling Schedule (Boundary Region)
• Blue Box Recycling Schedule (Kootenay Region)

​Check out our curbside collection search tool to confirm if your address is alley or street access.

There will be no interruption to curbside collection on most statutory holidays, apart from Christmas Day and New Year's Day. If your collection day is on Christmas Day or New Year's Day, watch for information regarding your alternative collection date.

Many residents in the Kootenay region have had a change in collection location from alley pickup to street pickup.

Collection of garbage, green bin, and recycling will now be on the street. Alleys will only be used for collections where there is no street access or limited access.

Check out our curbside collection search tool to confirm if your address is alley or street pickup.

Unfortunately, changing the pickup locations has resulted in reducing access for some residents.

Collection of garbage, green bin, and recycling will now be on the street. Alleys will only be used for collections where there is no street access or limited access. GFL Environmental (the curbside collection contractor) has been excellent working with residents with mobility issues or limited access issues and are there to help. Call GFL Environmental at 250.367.0099, ask for the Trail Office to call you back and then discuss potential challenges you may have.

Check out our curbside collection search tool to confirm if your address is alley or street pickup.

Still have questions? Contact us at 250.368.0231 (Toll Free: 1.800.355.7352) or knowwaste@rdkb.com.

Garbage tags can be purchased at municipal buildings and local businesses throughout the RDKB as well as all staffed RDKB landfills and transfer stations. The complete list of businesses below:

Check your city or municipality’s bylaws some have mandates for residents to use a garbage can. The RDKB strongly encourages that everyone uses a garbage can. Having your garbage in a sturdy can greatly reduce access to animals.

It also reduces costs! The RDKB garbage tag system allows for one tag per bag if it is not in a container OR one container that weights up to 23kgs/50lbs. You could put multiple bags into one can and only pay $3!

No! If you have multiple bags in one garbage can and it weighs less than 23kg/50lbs you only need one garbage tag. Make sure it is visible in the can so that the driver picks it up.

The tipping fee for a single bag of garbage at an RDKB landfill or transfer station is $4 – bag tags are NOT accepted as payment.

Check out a complete list of what’s in and what’s out of your green bin here.

No, but there are many kitchen waste items that you can put in your green bin that should not go into your backyard composter, such as meat, fish, dairy products, cooked food, and soiled paper products.

Putting these items into your green bin ensures that all the valuable nutrients are captured and put to good use. Don’t waste your waste!

When in doubt, throw it out! We can appreciate wanting to do your best to keep compostable materials out of the landfill. However, contamination is difficult to separate and leads to valuable compostable material being sent to the landfill. If you’re not sure, play it safe and put it in the garbage.

Put it out for collection anyway. This will help reduce odour and other “yuck” factors, making it less of an attractant to bears and other animals. Please do not put your small kitchen catcher out at the curb. Only use the standard 80L bin or your bear resistant bin at the curb.

The small bin known as the 'kitchen catcher' is intended for the kitchen, or inside use only. The kitchen catcher is unfortunately not suitable to put out at the curb for collection. To participate in the green bin program, households must use the 80-litre critter resistant green bin with wheels, or the bear resistant green bin. Some households only produce a small amount of kitchen waste each week, and we recommend placing this at the curb each week. Even if a household only produces a small kitchen catcher worth of organics, it will be collected.

No, but lining your bin with either an approved bag (such as Bag to Earth or regular paper bags - which would include 100% paper 'leaf bags'), crumpled newspaper, cardboard, or boxboard does help contain liquids and reduce the “yuck” factor.

DO NOT use plastic bags even if labeled as compostable or biodegradable.

Where to find Bag to Earth products in the Kootenay Area:

Home Hardware
No Frills
Canadian Tire
Safeway
Ferraro Foods

Where to find Bag to Earth products in the Boundary Area:

Extra Foods
Home Hardware
Buy-Low Foods
McMynn’s Ace Building Centre

These bags do not properly compost or break down in the composting facilities, resulting in a mess of plastic contamination that is difficult to remove. To produce a usable compost end-product each facility must meet strict provincial regulations which prohibits plastics of any kind, including those labeled compostable or biodegradable.

Bag to Earth products AND regular 100% paper bags are the only liners accepted. You can also line your green bin with cardboard, boxboard, newspaper, paper towels etc. as these are all accepted in the green bin program.

Some households have been using extra large 'leaf-style' paper bags available at hardware stores. They are 100% paper and generally double lined. They do not hold up well to liquid materials, but you can place some extra cardboard or paper at the bottom to help with this.    

Some other paper liner products available locally, unfortunately have a 'plastic' liner within their paper bags that has a compostable and biodegradable classification. Plastics are not accepted in our program (even if they are compostable or biodegradable).  

Paper bags lined with compostable PLASTIC not accepted in our program:

•  Walmart Great Value (house brand) – Small (10 pack) & Large (5 pack) Food Waste Bags – manufacturer, ZHONGSHAN XIN FU SPORTS SCIENCE & TECH CO., LTD.
•  Save on Foods Western Family (house brand) – Small (10 & 30 packs) Food Waste Bags – manufacturer, QINGDAO HONGTAI PACKAGING PRINTING CO.
•  London Drugs Green Life (brand name, not a house brand) – Small (30 pack) Food Waste Bags – manufacturer, QINGDAO HONGTAI PACKAGING PRINTING CO. 
•  Dollarama Green Slant (house brand) – Small Food Waste Bags (10 pack) - HYTREND INVESTMENTS GROUP LTD., a subsidiary of DALIAN ZHONGHAI GROUP TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., CHINA

All Plastic bags stating 'biodegradable or compostable' are also not accepted in the program currently.

Again, you do not need to use a bin liner, but if you do, the Bag to Earth products or regular paper bags – which would include 100% paper 'leaf bags' – are the only ones accepted at this time.  

Store the green bin securely in an area where animals can’t access it. It will contain the same materials as would have been in your garbage, so it won’t smell any more or less.

Please place your green bins at the curb where you would normally place garbage/recycling after 7:30 am (Kootenay region) and 8:00 am (Boundary region) on the day of collection. DO NOT put your bin out the night before.

This is up to YOU.  If residents treat their green bin responsibly - the same way they treat their garbage responsibly - there shouldn’t be a problem with bears.  We are all in bear territory in the RDKB.  Proper management of our waste is integral in limiting bear-human conflicts. We have many ‘tips and tricks’ for securing our green bins and contents such as:

• Place green bins at roadside only on the morning of collection – never the night before!
• Store your garbage and green bin in a closed, locked location such as a garage or shed.
• Minimize odors by freezing organics such as meat and other smelly food scraps, and don’t put them in the green bin until collection day.
• If a bin is stored outside, anchor it to a post using a cable so that it can’t be dragged away.
• Take your green bin to the curb for collection every week, even if you only have a small amount of organics in the bin.
• Keep bins clean!  See ‘Tips to Reduce the “Yuck” Factor’.

The RDKB also has certified bear-resistant green bins available for purchase, through our bear bin trade-in program, for Kootenay residents who live in bear-frequented areas and are unable to keep their bins secured. Bear resistant bins are not available for Boundary residents at this time.
If you are interested in purchasing a bear-resistant green bin, please fill out the Bear Bin form.               

The standard 80 litre green bin distributed to residents free of charge by the RDKB are critter-resistant (to raccoons, rodents, etc.) but not bear-resistant. With this in mind, it’s important that you store and manage your bins properly to not attract bears.

Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee ‘certified bear-resistant’ green bins are available for purchase through our bear bin trade-in program, for Kootenay residents who live in bear-frequented areas and are unable to keep their bins secured:

• Step 1 – Fill out the Bear Bin Trade-In form here or call us and we will fil it out for you!
• Step 2 – You will be contacted by RDKB staff to confirm bin availability and arrange for payment and a pickup time at McKelvey Creek Landfill or at the main office in Trail.
• Step 3 – Bring your CLEAN 80 litre standard critter-resistant bin to the McKelvey Creek landfill for trade-in at the pre-arranged date and time.
• Step 4 – Pay and pick up your new bin. Trade-in cost is $200 including GST.

Note: Once you purchase a Bear Bin, you keep it! If you move to another residence, let the RDKB know, and take your bin with you.

Bear resistant bins are not available for Boundary residents at this time.

Contact us at
knowwaste@rdkb.com
Tel. 250.368.9148 (Toll-Free: 1.800.355.7352)

If you are new to the area and need a green bin or if your bin has been damaged, please fill out and submit a form:

• Kootenay residents form
• Boundary residents form

Download a Blue Box Recycling schedule and guide below or contact GFL Environmental to have one delivered:

• Blue Box Recycling Schedule (Boundary Region)
• Blue Box Recycling Schedule (Kootenay Region)

Download a Blue Box Recycling schedule and guide below or contact GFL Environmental to have one delivered:

• Blue Box Recycling Schedule (Boundary Region)
• Blue Box Recycling Schedule (Kootenay Region)

To get a blue box, please contact GFL Environmental at either 250.442.1538 or 250.367.0099.

Try our recycling widget here, if you are looking for the nearest depot drop-off center, retail take-back program or industry sponsored pop-up collection event.

Not sure if an item is recyclable or where to take it? Contact the Recycling Council of BC who can answer questions specific to your community through the Recyclepedia search, phone, text, chat, or email.