City Of Courtenay Offering Seasonal Excess Yard Waste Drop-Off

The City of Courtenay is once again offering a drop-off option for City residents with too much yard waste on their hands.

From November 1 until November 29, City of Courtenay residents can bring their excess yard waste to a seasonal collection point at the end of McKenzie Avenue.

The free yard waste drop-off program is open to Courtenay residents receiving curbside collection through the City who have excess yard waste that does not fit into their curbside collection container.

The yard waste drop-off will be open Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., excluding statutory holidays.

“At this time of year, some residents have an excess number of leaves and other yard waste beyond the volumes available through weekly organics collection,” said Chris Thompson, Manager of Public Works Services at the City of Courtenay.

“We’re once again offering a drop-off collection point as another option for City residents who need it.  We had a great response to this service in the spring, residents did a fantastic job keeping their dropped off yard waste clean and free of debris. Once again we’re reminding residents to please screen materials for dog toys, plant pots and tags, or any other debris that could contaminate.“

Accepted materials for drop-off include leaves, grass clippings, flowers, plants and small branches less than 3 inches in diameter.

Materials can be either loose or contained in a paper yard waste bag.

Plastic bags, even if they are labelled compostable/biodegradable, are not accepted at the drop-off or in curbside organics carts.

McKenzie Avenue is located next to the City Operational Services Centre (formerly Public Works) and is accessed from Cumberland Road just west of the train tracks between McPhee and Piercy avenues.

Yard waste collected through the program will be composted. In the spring, the excess yard waste drop-off program collected 29,770 kgs of clean, contamination-free yard waste.

2,927 tonnes of organics were collected from eligible City of Courtenay households in 2023 through curbside collection.

Yard waste volumes fluctuate widely throughout the year, with spring and fall seeing the highest volumes of yard debris.

In previous years, this overwhelmed the collection contractor’s capacity at peak times, resulting in collection delays cascading across each zone.

Residents who regularly need to dispose of larger amounts of yard waste have the option to request an extra organics cart from the City for an additional annual fee.

For more information on the seasonal yard waste drop-off pilot project and curbside organics collection, visit City of Courtenay.