Please download our Clear Bag Program Flyer for information about the new clear bag program in Annapolis Royal effective April 1, 2008.

Download our Collection information, including collection dates.

Residents, businesses and institutions process their own organic waste by several different methods:

Backyard Composters: are available through most hardware or household goods retailers. These units are great for composting your leaves and grass clippings as well as some of your household compostables such as fruit/veggies, coffee grounds, small amounts of paper products, etc. Backyard composters should NOT be used for anything containing meat, dairy or eggs, fats and oils. Your Backyard Composter has another advantage in that it creates fertile compost for you to use in your garden.

Green Cones: are available through Town Hall. These units are "digesters" and do not produce compost but simply allow these foods to decompose and their goodness to drain into the ground. The big advantage to the Green Cones is that you can put virtually all types of household compostables into these units, including meat, dairy and egg products. It is best for households to use both a Backyard Composter and a Green Cone to dispose of their organics. Remember that your Green Cone is NOT intended for yard waste.

Neighbourhood Composters: are large wooden composters that are built and maintained by the Town for disposal of compostable products from Town residents. Many residents, due to health or location, are not able to participate in backyard composting and therefore can deliver their organics to these community-use units. Virtually all types of household organics can be disposed of in the Neighbourhood Composters. There are several of these units in the Town - please call Town Hall to find out about one near you.

Subsidies for "Green Cones" and backyard composters are available from the Town.

To summarize, all the following household organic materials (compost) can be disposed of in either your Green Cone or a Neighbourhood Composter. All but the final three categories may also be disposed of in a Backyard Composter.

	Back Yard Composter	Green Cone	Neighbourhood Composter
all cooked and uncooked foods, including meat, fish and bones		X	X
vegetable peelings	X	X	X
baked goods	X	X	X
pasta and rice	X	X	X
spoiled vegetables and fruit	X	X	X
cheese and other dairy products		X	X
tea bags and tea leaves	X	X	X
coffee grounds and filters	X	X	X
egg shells	X	X	X
small amounts of grease, fats and oils		X	X
small amounts of paper towels, napkins and similar paper products	X	X	X
yard waste	X (or Town dropoff)

Yard Waste

Where possible, leaves and grass clippings should go into your backyard composter so you can create great compost for use in your gardens. However, an alternative for leaves, grass clippings, brush and limbs is to drop them off in the clearly marked areas beside the Public Works yard (near the old Train Station) at the end of Victoria Street. Please make sure you sort your yard waste into the appropriate areas as designated. Also, please be sure to keep any ELM WOOD separate from the rest and dispose of it according to the signage. (It is crucial that elm wood be disposed of carefully so that we lower our risks of Dutch Elm Disease).



Some Helpful Hints:

1. breaking or cutting things up into smaller pieces speeds up the composting process
   
   
2. adding small amounts of leaves, dry grass or other carbon stocks also helps composting
   
   
3. a handful of earth now and then helps keep down the fruit flies or other potential pests
   
   
4. never put anything inorganic, such as plastic or glass, in any kind of composter. The rule of thumb is "It's Got to Rot"
   
   
5. You shouldn't overload your Green Cone. If you are doing a serious fridge clean-out or have large amounts of food waste from a special dinner or event, your Green Cone isn't able to handle that volume. An option is to take any large amounts of household organic waste to the nearest Neighbourhood Composter upon such occasions.
   
   
6. If your Green Cone does overfill, you have a couple options. One is to purchase a second cone and switch usage to the other cone while the first one rots, and then vice versa after the second fills. The other options is to empty your Green Cone into buckets and bring them to the Public Works yard for the Earth Tub (please contact Public Works staff before you do this).
   
   
7. and since we do not live in the sunny south, there may be times in the winter that you simply can't find your Green Cone or at least can't easily get to it. When that is the case, you always have the option of using one of the Neighbourhood Composters.