Guide
Who collects what, how to find your day, holiday changes, trash tags and bulk pickup.
The City of Hamilton collects garbage, bulk items, the green bin and leaf and yard waste; since 1 January 2026 the Blue Box has been run by Circular Materials, with GFL Environmental collecting it. You can put out one bag or can of garbage a week without a tag. Find your collection day with the City's online schedule or the Recycle Coach app, and expect pickup a day later in holiday weeks.
As of 1 January 2026, Hamilton's Blue Box program, including curbside collection and supplying blue boxes, is run by Circular Materials Ontario rather than the City. The City of Hamilton keeps curbside collection of garbage, bulk garbage, organics (the green bin) and leaf and yard waste, including Christmas trees.
It depends on where you live. Enter your address in the "My Schedule" tab of the City's online waste collection schedule to find your collection day, view the month, export it to your calendar or have a PDF emailed to you. The City also publishes printable calendars for each pickup day, Monday to Friday, covering April 2026 to March 2027.
Put waste at the curb in front of your property between 7 p.m. the evening before and 7 a.m. on your collection day.
Pickup happens one day later than usual if it falls on or after a holiday. For the rest of 2026: Thanksgiving, Monday 12 October, moves pickup for that week one day later; Christmas falls on Friday 25 December, so Friday pickup moves to Saturday 26 December.
Earlier in 2026, Canada Day (a Wednesday) shifted only Wednesday to Friday pickups and Easter Monday changed nothing, so check the City's calendar for each holiday rather than assuming.
GFL Environmental now manages Blue Box collection and distribution in Hamilton. Call 1-844-620-4351 (Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.) or email hamiltonrecycling@gflenv.com about missed recycling or to exchange a broken Blue Box. Additional blue boxes have to be bought at a retail store.
Keep using two blue boxes, one for paper and one for containers.
One bag or can of garbage a week. Every extra bag or container needs a trash tag. Each bag or can must weigh no more than 23 kg (50 lb) and be no larger than 91 cm by 61 cm and 135 litres; cans need two handles and no hinged lid, and clear bags are not accepted.
Broken glass goes out in a taped cardboard box marked "GLASS". Construction materials such as bricks, concrete and drywall are not picked up, and neither are appliances or scrap metal, which can go to a Community Recycling Centre.
Each household gets 12 trash tags in the mail each year with the City's Garbage and Recycling Guide; the current pink tags are valid from 30 March 2026 to 27 March 2027. You can order 14 more, free, once a year. Put one full tag around the neck of each extra bag, or on the item at the top of an extra can, never on your first bag. Tags are for curbside pickup only and cannot be shared with neighbours.
Households with medical circumstances, two or more children under four, registered home daycares and some agricultural businesses can apply for extra tags under the special consideration policy, renewed by 1 March each year.
Book a bulk pickup online or by calling 905-546-2489 at least one week ahead; it happens on your regular collection day (online requests on your collection day two weeks later). Up to four items per booking, each no heavier than 90 kg (200 lb) and no longer than 1.2 m (4 ft). Mattresses and box springs must be wrapped and sealed in plastic, or they are not collected.
Online booking is for single-family homes and buildings of five units or fewer with curbside collection; town homes cannot use it.
Food scraps and soiled paper: baked goods and cereals, dairy, eggs and eggshells, fish, meat and bones, fruit and vegetables (labels and stickers removed), nuts, pasta, rice and grains, coffee grounds, filters and tea bags, paper napkins, towels and tissues, paper plates and fireplace ashes. Leaf and yard waste, including grass clippings, does not go in the green bin.
For a new or replacement green bin, get a service number by calling 905-546-2489 or online, then pick it up at a Community Recycling Centre, Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with ID.
Since 1 January 2026, Circular Materials sets what is accepted and how it is collected, and is responsible for telling residents about changes; the City says the new system standardizes what can be recycled across Ontario. Residents can keep using the Recycle Coach app and online tool for the schedule and the item search.
In brown paper yard waste bags, bushel baskets or open-top rigid reusable containers with handles, marked with free City yard waste stickers; plastic bags are not collected. There is no limit on how much you put out on your weekly pickup day during the season. Bundle and tie branches, none thicker than 9 cm. Each bag or container must weigh no more than 50 lb, and containers can be no larger than 135 litres.
Yard waste is picked up seasonally by a separate truck, possibly at a different time from your other waste. Residents can drop off yard waste from home at a Community Recycling Centre free, year-round.
City of Hamilton
Blue Box Program UpdateCity of Hamilton
Waste Collection ScheduleCity of Hamilton
GarbageCity of Hamilton
Bulk Items and FurnitureCity of Hamilton
Green BinCity of Hamilton
Yard Waste