St. John’s Garbage, Recycling and Waste

The collection system

Garbage is collected weekly. Blue bag recycling is collected every two weeks. Yard waste is collected every two weeks, seasonally. Other collection services run at other points in the year.

The City publishes an address-based collection calendar showing your schedule, whether your address is in the automated garbage programme, and what is being picked up on your next collection day. You can print the calendar or add it to Google Calendar, iCal or Microsoft Outlook, and the free Curb It St. John’s app provides the same information, including notifications if collection is postponed or cancelled.

Garbage: automated carts and clear bags

Automated garbage collection began in St. John’s in 2018. Garbage bags go into a wheeled cart, and a collection vehicle with an automated arm picks up the cart and empties it. The cart holds roughly four regular garbage bags, and it carries a radio frequency identification tag and an individual serial number identifying the household it is assigned to. Carts are assigned to the property rather than to a person, so they stay behind when you move.

Placement and timing are enforced. Put the cart at the curb on collection day only, between 6 and 8 a.m., and remove it by 8 p.m. Garbage placed outside the cart will not be collected, and all regular household garbage has to be in bags inside the cart with the lid completely closed. Leave at least one metre of clearance between the cart and any obstacle, including other carts, recycling or yard waste bags, and parked vehicles. In winter, do not place carts behind or on top of snow banks, and note that improperly placed carts, including carts left on sidewalks, may not be collected.

Garbage must also be in clear, colourless bags, with the exception of one privacy bag per week that may be opaque. The City’s stated reasons are to increase recycling, to keep hazardous items such as batteries out of the landfill, and to protect collection staff. Because collectors can see what is in the bag, clear bags also make curbside recycling effectively mandatory.

• Write your address on both sides of the cart with a permanent marker. All the carts look alike, and a cart that goes missing has to be replaced.
• Broken glass and other sharp objects must go in a puncture-proof container, clearly labelled broken glass, inside a clear bag and then in the cart.
• Residents who have concerns about their ability to manoeuvre a cart to the collection point can apply to the City for an exemption from automated garbage collection.

Recycling: two blue bags, and no glass

The City has collected blue bags of recyclables at the curb since October 2010. Curbside recycling must be in see-through blue bags, and it is a two-stream system: one bag for paper recyclables and a separate bag for container recyclables. Recycling blue bags and paper yard waste bags must also be placed at least one metre away from the garbage cart.

Plastic containers carrying a recycling symbol numbered 1 to 6 are accepted, and that applies to plastic containers rather than to all plastic. Glass is not accepted in the curbside programme at all — the City’s own site addresses why no glass as the most frequently asked question about its recycling programme.

Yard waste: paper bags only

Since 2018 the City of St. John’s has required paper yard waste bags for curbside yard waste, because of the economic and environmental cost of landfilling compostable material. Yard waste is collected from May to November, and the bags go out on the same day as your recycling collection.

Yard waste in plastic bags will not be collected and will be left at the curb. Collected yard waste is composted and used in landscaping projects on City land, and free compost is available at the Residential Drop-Off at Robin Hood Bay on any day it is open.

The Robin Hood Bay facility and the residential drop-off

The Robin Hood Bay Waste Management Facility at 340 East White Hills Road is where waste that cannot go in a cart or a bag ends up. Its Residential Drop-Off is for residential use and residential waste only, and it is open five days a week. The process is straightforward: check in with an attendant, then put your items in the proper bin. Vehicle operators have to offload their own waste, because staff and equipment at the facility cannot offload vehicles.

Pre-sorting is expected. The facility separates household hazardous waste, recyclable containers, recyclable papers, recyclable cardboard, recyclable electronics, recyclable metal, gently used furniture, garbage, tires and yard waste. Gently used furniture and household items can be placed in the furniture donation bin before the rest goes into the garbage bins, and metal recycling is handled there too.

Oversized items, and where the rest goes

The City offers curbside collection of oversized garbage and metal items to St. John’s residents once a year at no charge, but only by appointment. Each household can schedule one oversized garbage and metal pick-up on the same day, appointments are made by house address, and one appointment is permitted per year, so everyone at the property needs to coordinate. Oversized waste can also simply be brought to Robin Hood Bay.

An item qualifies as oversized if it has a maximum size of 1.5 by 1.5 by 2.15 metres, weighs less than 68 kilograms, and does not fit inside a garbage bag or box. Before booking, the City asks residents to consider whether an item could be reused, and its Waste Wizard lookup shows the options.

• When waste is placed at the curb incorrectly and cannot be collected, collectors leave a sticker explaining the problem so it can be corrected before the next collection day.
• Household hazardous waste and electronics are handled through separate programmes rather than curbside collection.
• Beyond the city, the Eastern Regional Service Board operates public waste recovery facilities across eastern Newfoundland, accepting furniture, mattresses, appliances, scrap metal, electronics, tires, propane tanks, construction and demolition waste and tree branches, under its own rules and visit limits.