Blue cart recycling

The City of Calgary provides Blue Cart recycling to single family residential homes.

Blue carts are collected weekly on the same day as green carts. Set your cart out by 7:00 a.m.

Bundle plastic bags together in a single bag and tie closed. For the rest of your recyclables, put them loose in your bin.

Extra bags are not accepted – all items must be in the cart. Save extra items for next week or take to a community recycling depot.

Not sure where to put an item? Check out What Goes Where.

Safely dispose of household batteries

Don’t put any kind of battery in your blue, green or black carts. Batteries contain metals like lead, lithium, cadmium and mercury that can be dangerous to human health and the environment. If they end up in any of your carts, batteries can get crushed and cause fires at the recycling, composting and landfill facilities. Household batteries include non-rechargeable alkaline batteries (AA and AAA) and rechargeable batteries found in cellphones and laptops.

Safely dispose of batteries by taking to a participating retailer for free recycling, including London Drugs, Staples, Home Depot, Rona, IKEA and Best Buy. For more information visit calgary.ca/battery.

What can go in your Blue Cart

YES items

See which items can go in your blue cart.

NO items

See which items cannot go in your blue cart.

What Goes Where

Find out how to dispose of other items.

Find your pickup day

Print a calendar

Type your address in the search box
Select Get a calendar
You can print a calendar; or
Add an online calendar

Sign up for free reminders

Type your address in search box
Select Get a reminder
Chose type of notice
Add your contact details

Using your Blue Cart

Using your blue cart

See how to prepare your recyclables..

Cart placement tips

See how to place your cart on pickup day.

Customer self-service

Report a missed collection

Black Cart - Missed Collection

Blue Cart - Missed Collection

Green Cart - Missed Collection

Request additional carts

Please call 311 to review the options available to you.

Request cart for a new home

Report a missing or damaged cart

Please call 311 to report a broken or missing cart.

For more details, see Replacing Your Cart.

About Blue Cart Program

Who receives a cart?

We provide blue carts to single family homes up to four units, as long as they are not part of an apartment or condominium.

Blue Cart fee
Monthly Rate	2020/2021
Blue Cart Fee ($ per 30 days)	$8.80

Your monthly cart program fees are not a "per-collection" fee but cover all the components of the residential cart programs, including providing carts to Calgarians, pickup from your home, sorting and processing of material as well as education and program support.

To learn more, visit Residential Waste Rates.

How recycling works

Through our Blue Cart program and community recycling depots, we've recycled more than 700 million kilograms over the last 11 years.

When your items are picked up from your blue cart, they go to a recycling sorting facility. People and machines sort all the mixed recyclables into different types of materials, bale them and ship them to markets where they will be made into new products.

In 2017, some items were impacted by the changes in the Chinese recycling sector and put into storage. In 2018, new manufacturers were found in other markets to accept recyclables as well as to clear out the backlog of stored items from 2017.