Fredericton garbage & recycling, explained
How garbage and recycling actually work in Fredericton: weekly pickup, the alternating blue-bag and grey-bag weeks, what goes where, yard waste, Christmas trees, the landfill, and how to survive your first bin day.
Updated
City services
Fredericton garbage & recycling, explained
Quick answer
Garbage is collected weekly in Fredericton. Set it out at the curb by 7:00 a.m. on your collection day, with each bag under 50 lb (23 kg). The city is split into five collection zones, and the contractor is FERO. Recycling runs on the same day as your garbage but alternates every week between blue-bag recyclables (plastics #1-7, metal cans, cartons) and grey-bag recyclables (paper, cardboard, boxboard). There is no green-bin or compost pickup, and glass and plastic film are not collected curbside. Check your day and week on the annual Recycling Calendar or the interactive zone map.
Last verified July 14, 2026
The short version
Every household eventually has the same panic: it is the night before pickup, you are holding two bags and a squashed cereal box, and you cannot remember whether tomorrow is a blue week or a grey week. Welcome to Fredericton. The system is genuinely straightforward once it clicks, and this page exists so it clicks faster.
Here is the whole thing in one breath. Garbage is picked up weekly. Recycling is picked up on the same day as your garbage, but it alternates: one week is blue-bag (containers), the next is grey-bag (paper and cardboard). Everything goes to the curb by 7:00 a.m. on collection day, so if you sleep in and set it out at 7:15 to the sight of a departing truck, that one is on you. The city is divided into five collection zones, and each address has one fixed collection day.
The city contracts collection to FERO, and since May 2024 the recycling program itself has been run by Circular Materials Atlantic as part of the province-wide shift to producer-funded recycling. What that means for you is mostly good news: the accepted-items lists are steady, and the same rules apply across the region. What it does not mean is a green bin. Fredericton has no curbside compost or organics program, so food scraps go in the garbage or, better, into a backyard composter. New to town? Our moving to Fredericton guide pairs nicely with this page.
Blue bag vs grey bag: what goes where
This is the part people get wrong, so let us be precise. Blue and grey are not decorative preferences; they are two different collection streams that come on two different weeks. Blue is for containers, the rigid, rinseable stuff. Grey is for fibre, paper, cardboard and boxboard. Put out the wrong stream on the wrong week and it simply will not be taken, which is a sad thing to discover through your kitchen window.
| Blue bag (containers) | Grey bag (paper & fibre) | NOT curbside |
|---|---|---|
| Plastic containers marked #1-7 | Newspaper, flyers, magazines, catalogues | Glass of any kind (jars, bottles) |
| Tin, steel and aluminum food cans | Cardboard (flattened) | Plastic film, bags, wrap, overwrap |
| Milk and juice cartons | Boxboard (cereal, cracker, tissue boxes) | Styrofoam and white foam packaging |
| No. 4 plastic shopping bags | Envelopes, office paper, paperback books | Ceramics, dishes, drinking glasses |
| Rinsed, dried, lids on, loose in the bin | Kept dry, cover the box on wet days | Motor oil containers, plastic toys, hoses |
A few habits make life easier. Rinse and dry your blue-bag items, a jar of old salsa is not recycling, it is a science experiment. Leave lids and labels on; they no longer need to come off. Put materials in loose, not bagged (the one exception is shredded paper, which can be bagged so it does not blow down the block). Flatten cardboard so your box does not become a sail. And on rainy or snowy grey weeks, cover your paper, wet paper is not recyclable, and Fredericton weather does not consult your schedule.
Not sure which week is which? The annual Recycling Calendar marks every blue and grey week for your zone, and the city's interactive map shows your collection day. When in doubt, you can also ask Freddy.
What is not accepted curbside, and where it actually goes
Fredericton's curbside recycling covers containers and fibre, and that is it. A surprising number of common household items are not accepted at the curb, and lobbing them into the blue bag hopefully does not make them recyclable, it just risks contaminating the load. Here is where the orphans actually belong.
Glass is the big one. Wine bottles, jam jars, pickle jars, none of it goes curbside in Fredericton. Take glass, along with white foam packaging and flexible plastics (film, bags, wrap), to a redemption centre. Refundable beverage containers also go to redemption depots, where you get your deposit back, which is a rare case of garbage paying you.
Electronics, old TVs, laptops, cables, that drawer of dead phones, go through Recycle NB's e-waste program at participating drop-off sites. Paint and household hazardous waste (solvents, cleaners, aerosols, automotive fluids) also fall under Recycle NB's stewardship programs; the CRSC landfill accepts household hazardous waste on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Batteries and medical sharps need designated drop-offs, never the recycling bin, and never loose in the garbage. Scrap metal and appliances can go to the landfill at no charge, though fridges and freezers carry a small fee for refrigerant handling.
Please do not put hot ashes, batteries, or hazardous waste in your garbage or recycling. Ashes have started truck fires, and batteries are a genuine hazard. Cool ashes fully in a metal container first, and route the rest to the proper depot.
The short rule of thumb: if it is not a rinsed container or clean paper, assume it is not curbside and check the calendar's disposal directory or the WasteSmart tool. For anything genuinely ambiguous, Service Fredericton can point you to the right depot.
Bags, boxes and bin rules
Fredericton is refreshingly relaxed about how you contain your waste, within limits. You can use bags or you can use a proper container, a watertight bin with handles and a fitted lid, which is the smarter move for keeping crows, raccoons and the occasional opportunistic dog out of your business.
For garbage, bags should be in the 50 to 120 litre range, and the golden rule is weight: no bag over 50 lb (23 kg). If a collector cannot safely lift it, it stays on the curb, possibly with an orange sticker explaining why. Rigid containers are allowed too, non-wheeled bins from 75 to 120 litres, or wheeled carts (dollies) from 240 to 360 litres. There is no strict cap advertised on the number of bags for a normal household, but this is weekly residential collection, not a demolition service; a genuine pile of renovation debris belongs at the landfill, not the curb.
For recycling, put blue-bag containers loose in your bin and keep grey-bag paper dry and, ideally, covered. Yard waste has its own rules entirely, leaves must go in compostable paper bags (plastic bags will not be collected), and brush must be bundled and tied with natural twine. More on that below.
One newcomer note on curbside etiquette: set everything out the morning of, or the night before at the earliest, and bring your empty bins back in promptly. Overnight bags are an open invitation to wildlife, and a torn-open bag scattered across the sidewalk is nobody's idea of curb appeal.
Yard waste, leaves and Christmas trees
Seasonal collection is where Fredericton earns some goodwill, because a city ringed by trees generates a genuinely heroic volume of leaves each autumn. There are three things to keep straight: monthly yard-waste pickup, dedicated fall leaf collection, and the Christmas tree program in January.
Curbside yard waste is collected once a month, on the last full week of the month, running roughly April through November, on your regular garbage day. Leaves go in compostable paper bags only; branches and brush must be no bigger than 5 cm (2 in) in diameter and 1.5 m (5 ft) long, tied in small bundles with natural twine. No plastic bags, no lumber, no stumps, no food scraps. If you would rather not wait for the monthly truck, the Municipal Soil Management Facility on Beek Court in Vanier Industrial Park takes yard waste seasonally.
| Program | When | How to prep |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly yard waste | Last full week, roughly April-November, on your garbage day | Leaves in compostable paper bags; brush tied with natural twine, under 5 cm x 1.5 m |
| Fall leaf collection | Extra dedicated weeks in autumn (typically late Oct and Nov) | Compostable paper bags at the curb by 7:00 a.m. |
| Yard-waste drop-off | Seasonal, Beek Court soil facility | Loose is fine at the depot; no plastic |
| Christmas tree recycling | Approx. Dec 26 - Jan 20, drop-off only | Strip all tinsel, ornaments, stands, nails and wire |
Christmas trees are a drop-off program, not curbside. From roughly December 26 to January 20, the city opens around eight drop-off sites at parks and school lots across town (Odell Park, Queens Square, Royal Road Park and others). Strip the tree bare first, all stands, tinsel, ornaments, screws, plastic, string, nails and wire, because the trees are chipped and composted at the municipal facility. Artificial trees and wreaths are not accepted; those are a garbage or donation question, not a recycling one.
No green bin? Composting at home
Let us address the elephant that is not in the room: Fredericton has no green-bin or curbside organics collection. Coming from a city with a compost cart, this feels like a step backward, and food scraps landing in the garbage does add up. The city's answer is backyard composting, which it actively encourages as the home-grown solution to the missing green bin.
A backyard composter turns kitchen scraps and yard trimmings into something your garden will thank you for, and it quietly shrinks your weekly garbage at the same time. Fruit and vegetable peelings, coffee grounds, eggshells and leaves all go in; meat, dairy and greasy leftovers generally stay out, unless you are running a more advanced setup. If you do not have the yard or the inclination for a full composter, even keeping leaves and grass out of the garbage via the monthly yard-waste program lightens the load considerably.
Whether the city currently offers a subsidized backyard composter is worth confirming directly, programs come and go. Service Fredericton can tell you what is available this season, and the environmental stewardship pages are the place to watch for composting workshops.
The practical takeaway for a newcomer: budget for the fact that your garbage will hold more organics than you are used to, keep it tightly bagged and under the weight limit, and consider a composter come spring if you have the space. Your future self, hauling fewer heavy bags to the curb in February, will approve.
Bulky items, renovation debris and the landfill
Weekly collection does not take your old couch, your busted mattress, or the drywall from your basement reno. For furniture, appliances, construction and demolition debris, and anything that will not politely fit in a bag, the destination is the Fredericton Region Solid Waste (CRSC) landfill.
The site is at 1775 Alison Boulevard, reachable at (506) 453-9938. Hours run Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; it is closed Sundays and holidays. Bring a way to pay, because tipping fees apply by weight. As a rough guide, household garbage runs around $109 per tonne and segregated construction and demolition debris around $45 per tonne, while scrap metal and appliances are accepted at no charge (fridges and freezers carry a small refrigerant-handling fee). Rates change, so confirm the current schedule before you load the truck.
Sorting your load before you arrive genuinely saves money, segregated construction debris and free-of-charge scrap metal are cheaper than dumping everything as mixed household garbage. A little sorting in the driveway beats paying the mixed rate at the scale.
For a large cleanout, a private junk-removal service or a rented bin may be worth it once you factor in your time, fuel and the tipping fee. But for a single mattress or a few bags of reno debris, a Saturday-morning run to Alison Boulevard is the standard Fredericton move.
Holidays, missed pickups and finding your zone
Two logistics questions come up constantly, so here are the answers up front. First, holidays: garbage and recycling are collected on every statutory holiday except Christmas Day and New Year's Day. When a collection is bumped by one of those two, the city posts the revised schedule, so a holiday week is the one time it is worth double-checking rather than assuming.
Second, missed pickups. If the truck genuinely skipped you, and it was out by 7:00 a.m., sorted correctly, and under the weight limit, your options are to hold the material until your next scheduled collection or to run it to the CRSC landfill yourself. There is no same-day recovery truck, so the calm move is to store it (secured against wildlife) and set it out again next time. If pickups are being missed repeatedly, that is worth reporting so the route gets flagged.
To find your zone and collection day, use the city's interactive garbage-pickup map, punch in your address and it returns your day plus your blue and grey weeks. The same information lives on the printed Recycling Calendar, which the city and Circular Materials publish each December for the year ahead. Between the map, the calendar and the WasteSmart look-up tool, there is no reason to guess.
Everything here flows through a single channel: Service Fredericton at (506) 460-2020 or service@fredericton.ca. Note that Fredericton does not use 311, that number will not reach the city here. For the full rundown on reaching the city, see our contact the city guide, and if you are still settling in, the moving to Fredericton page ties the rest of the essentials together.
Common questions
How do I know if this week is blue bag or grey bag?
Check the annual Recycling Calendar for your zone, or use the city's interactive pickup map by entering your address. Both show which weeks are blue (containers) and which are grey (paper and cardboard). The calendar is published each December for the year ahead, and when in doubt you can always ask Freddy.
What time does garbage need to be at the curb?
By 7:00 a.m. on your collection day. Trucks can come early, so set your bags and bins out the night before or first thing that morning. If you miss the truck, that collection is gone until your next scheduled day.
Does Fredericton have a green bin or compost pickup?
No. There is no curbside organics or green-bin program. Food scraps go in the garbage, and the city encourages backyard composting as the home solution. Leaves and yard trimmings have their own separate monthly collection and drop-off options.
Where does glass go if it is not curbside?
Glass is not collected at the curb in Fredericton. Take glass jars and bottles, along with plastic film and white foam packaging, to a redemption centre. Refundable beverage containers also go to redemption depots, where you get your deposit back.
My garbage was not picked up, what do I do?
If it was out by 7:00 a.m., sorted correctly and under the 50 lb weight limit, your options are to store it until your next scheduled collection or bring it to the CRSC landfill on Alison Boulevard. There is no same-day makeup truck. If it keeps happening, report it to Service Fredericton so the route can be checked.
How do I get rid of a couch, mattress or renovation debris?
Weekly collection does not take bulky items or construction debris. Bring them to the Fredericton Region Solid Waste (CRSC) landfill at 1775 Alison Boulevard, open Monday to Friday 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday until 3:00 p.m. Tipping fees apply by weight, so sort your load first, scrap metal is free and segregated construction debris is cheaper than mixed garbage.
When can I put out leaves and yard waste?
Curbside yard waste is collected once a month, on the last full week of the month from roughly April through November, on your regular garbage day. Leaves must be in compostable paper bags, and brush must be bundled and tied with natural twine. There are also extra dedicated leaf-collection weeks in the fall and a seasonal drop-off at the Beek Court soil facility.
How do I recycle my Christmas tree?
Christmas trees are a drop-off program, not curbside. From roughly December 26 to January 20, the city opens about eight drop-off sites at parks and school lots. Strip the tree of all tinsel, ornaments, stands, nails and wire first, the trees are chipped and composted. Artificial trees and wreaths are not accepted.
Official sources
Hey Freddy is independent. For official confirmation, these are the primary sources this page was verified against:
- City of Fredericton, Garbage Collection
- City of Fredericton, Recycling
- City of Fredericton, Yard Waste
- City of Fredericton, Christmas Tree Drop-off
- Circular Materials, Capital Region
- Fredericton Region Solid Waste (CRSC), Hours & Rates
Get the Hey Freddy week ahead, every Monday
Fredericton’s events for the week, in one short email. Free, unsubscribe anytime.
Subscribe
One email every Monday. Unsubscribe anytime.