Bin Management and Cleanliness

The Basics

Each household included in the program has received a small seven litre kitchen catcher bin for use in your kitchen and a larger 45 litre rollout cart that you'll fill up and bring to the curb each week. 

The kitchen catchers have perforated lids to assist in keeping your organics from composting too soon. For best cleanliness practices, we recommend using compostable bags in your kitchen catcher. Once the bag is full, you'll take it out and put it in your rollout cart.

The rollout cart is equipped with wheels for easy transportation to the curb and a lock-latch on the lid to deter animals and keep the contents contained.

Compostable Bags

Compostable bags are not required but to keep your organic waste as neat and tidy as possible, we recommend using them in your kitchen catcher. Larger compostable bags for your rollout cart will also be available but won't necessarily be needed if you're already using compostable bags in your kitchen catcher.

To avoid sticking, we recommend putting a small piece of cardboard or torn up scrap newspaper at the bottom of the inside of your rollout cart. This is especially helpful when the weather starts to get warmer.

Compostable bags can be purchased through local hardware or grocery stores:

• Kitchen Catcher = 10 litre compostable bags
• Rollout Cart = 50 litre compostable bags

Please note that compost bags and biodegradable bags are different products. Biodegradable bags will not be accepted.

Extra Bins

There is no limit to the quantity of organics you can put out for curbside collection as long as it is contained in the City approved cart and not over-filled. Households can have more than one City approved bin if needed.

Extra bins are available for purchase through our Municipal Service Centres. Kitchen catchers are $10 each and rollout carts are $30 each. Please call ahead to ensure that there is stock available before going to buy one:

• To contact our Municipal Service Centres call: 705-324-9411
• Municipal Service Centres are open 8:30am to 4:30pm from Monday to Friday.

Broken Bins

Damaged bins may be covered by warranty. If your bin is broken, please email our Customer Service team at inquiries@kawarthalakes.ca and include a picture of the damaged bin. Your information will be forwarded to our Waste Management team and they will contact you with next steps.

Bin Placement

Bins should be placed at the end of your driveway on the left side (when facing the house). To avoid any potential delays, please be sure that your rollout cart is visible from the road.

In the winter, please do not place bins on top of or behind snow banks. Bins on top of snow banks will not be collected as it's a safety issue for our drivers. Bins behind snow banks may not be collected because the driver might not see it. 

If your organics cart is missed, check out our Waste Collection Delay page to learn what to do next.