The Markham waste collection calendar, snow clearing and leaf pickup for new owners

The short answer

The Markham waste collection calendar is built around a single collection day for each home. On that day the City of Markham picks up the blue box and the green bin every week. Clear bag garbage and bulky items go every other week. Yard material goes every other week from April to October, then every week through the fall leaf season. The City provides curbside collection to over 92,000 homes and 165 apartment and condo buildings.

New owners tend to ask about this in the first week after closing, along with the water bill and property tax. This post sets out what the City’s own pages say about pickup, the 2026 blue box changes, leaf collection and what happens on your street once snow arrives. Rules and dates were re-checked against the City’s pages in November 2026.

How the Markham waste collection calendar works

The City’s collection schedules and curbside collection pages list the frequency for each stream:

Stream	How often	Notes from the City
Blue box recycling	Every week	Operated by Circular Materials, collected by Miller Waste
Green bin organics	Every week	Any bag, paper, plastic or compostable, can line it
Clear bag garbage	Every other week	Clear bags only, no bag limit
Bulky items	Every other week	Same day as garbage, up to three items, no appointment
Yard material	Every other week, then every week	Every other week April to October, every week November 3 to December 11, 2026

Material has to be at the curb by 7 a.m. on your collection day or after 7 p.m. the night before. The City says collection times can change without notice.

To find your own day, the City offers personalized reminders through its collection schedules page and the Access Markham app. It also keeps a limited number of paper schedules at the Markham Recycling Depots.

Holiday weeks

The City says that whenever a statutory holiday falls between Tuesday and Friday, collection shifts to the following day. Its example is Good Friday, when there is no collection and the Friday areas are picked up on Saturday instead.

Garbage and bulky item rules that surprise new owners

Markham runs a clear bag garbage programme. The City’s rules:

• Clear bags only. Black, dark, tinted, coloured and white bags are not accepted.
• Each bag must be under 18 kilograms. There is no limit on the number of bags.
• Up to four small privacy bags per collection, placed inside the clear bag.
• A garbage can of 0.5 metres by 0.9 metres is acceptable if the bag is inside it and it weighs under 18 kilograms.

Bulky items such as couches, mattresses and box springs go out on garbage day, up to three items per collection, with no appointment needed. Large appliances are different. The City collects them once a month by appointment only, at $18.50 for each appliance, booked by calling 905.477.5530.

Renovation material is not collected at the curb. The City directs it to the Earl Turcott Waste Management Facility at 300 Rodick Road. That is worth knowing before a first project in a new house, because drywall and tiles left at the curb will stay there.

Blue box changes in 2026

The blue box looks the same from the curb, but the City no longer runs it. Its blue box page says curbside collection and processing are operated by Circular Materials, the administrator of Ontario’s common collection system.

What that means for a new owner:

1. Missed pickups and new boxes go to Miller Waste. Since December 31, 2025, blue box questions, including missed collections and requests for new or replacement boxes, are handled by Miller Waste at 1-855-752-3762, not the City.
2. Depots no longer sell blue boxes. As of January 1, 2026, the City says blue boxes are available only through Miller Waste or at local home stores.
3. More goes in the box. From January 1, 2026 the City lists new blue box items including black plastic containers, coffee cups, chip bags and snack wrappers, plastic bags and film and Styrofoam. Oversize cardboard must be flattened and bundled to 2 feet by 2 feet by 1 foot.

The green bin is still a City product. The City lists a green bin at $32.00 and a kitchen container at $13.50, prices effective January 1, 2026, sold at the Markham Recycling Depots. A broken Markham branded green bin can be exchanged there for $5.50. The depots do not accept cash.

Recycling depots and hazardous waste

The City lists four Markham Recycling Depots: Markham Village at 6041 Highway 7 East, Milliken Mills at 7660 Kennedy Road, Thornhill at 5 Green Lane and Unionville at 139A Main Street. Hours differ at each one and are posted on the depot page. The depots take alkaline batteries, electronics, ink cartridges, scrap metal and textiles. They no longer take cardboard, Styrofoam, plastic bags or other blue box material, which now goes in the curbside box.

Lithium-ion batteries, light bulbs, paint and other hazardous products go to the York Region Household Hazardous Waste Depot at 430 Rodick Road. The City says there is no cost to Markham residents.

Leaf and yard material collection

Yard material is picked up on your regular collection day. The City’s curbside collection page says it goes every other week from April to October and every week from November to mid-December. Its yard material page gives the 2026 fall leaf season as November 3 to December 11, with collection every week. Set out rules:

• Put yard material out by 7 a.m. on collection day. Do not put it out earlier than the night before.
• Use Kraft paper bags, open rigid containers without lids or bushel baskets. No plastic bags or cardboard boxes.
• Every bag, container and bundle must weigh less than 18 kilograms.
• Branches must be bundled with string, under 1.2 metres long and under 15 centimetres in diameter.
• Leaves, shrubs, twigs and branches, weeds, pumpkins, flowers, garden plants and root balls within those limits are accepted. Grass clippings, sod, dirt and stones are not. Grass clippings are not accepted in clear bag garbage either.

The City makes homeowners responsible for telling a hired lawn care service about these rules, including the ban on early set out. If you miss a pickup, it lists the Richmond Hill (Bloomington) Compost Facility at 1351 Bloomington Road East for composting drop off. The other option is the Earl Turcott Waste Management Facility, where yard material is taken as garbage.

Snow clearing on your street

Snow clearing in Markham follows a road classification system on the City’s winter road services page:

Road type	City standard
Arterial and primary	Salted or plowed until bare, 24 hours a day
Secondary	Centre of the road bare, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Local roads and lanes	Plowed once snow reaches 7.5 centimetres, about 16 hours to finish
Sidewalks	Plowed within 24 hours of the end of a snowfall of 5 centimetres or more

Not every road is the City’s. The City’s road ownership page lists Kennedy Road, McCowan Road, Warden Avenue, Woodbine Avenue, 16th Avenue and Major Mackenzie Drive East as Region of York roads. It lists Steeles Avenue as a City of Toronto road and Highway 404 as a Ministry of Transportation road. Canada Post clears the area around community mailboxes. York Region Transit maintains bus stop shelters.

Parking and set out in winter

Parking rules change in winter. The City says parking on both sides of all City streets is prohibited during snow clearing operations. Existing parking permits do not apply then. For this winter, from November 15, 2026 to April 15, 2027, when clearing is not under way, vehicles may park only on the odd numbered side of City streets unless signs say otherwise.

For collection day in winter, the City asks residents to set out the morning of collection, keep bins back from the road and never place them on top of a snowbank. Its garbage page asks for material at the right side of the end of the driveway. It also asks that snow from a snow blower stay on your own property rather than going back onto the road or a neighbour’s driveway.

The windrow at the end of the driveway

The City clears driveway windrows only for registered households in its Snow Windrow Removal Assistance Program. Our post on retiring in Markham covers who qualifies. One detail matters when you are choosing a house: the City says homes with rear lanes do not qualify, because snow is pushed out of the lane and hauled away. Homes on private roads, including condominiums, do not qualify either. Many homes in Cornell have rear lane garages, so that rule applies to much of that neighbourhood.

What to do in your first week

1. Look up your collection day and sign up for reminders on the City’s collection schedules page.
2. Check whether the seller left a green bin and blue box. If not, buy a green bin at a depot and contact Miller Waste for a blue box.
3. Stock clear garbage bags and Kraft paper yard bags.
4. Note which roads around you are City or Region roads. Plan for the odd side winter parking rule.
5. If you are buying a condo, ask the property manager how garbage, recycling and bulky items work in the building, because the City directs condo residents to them.

If you are moving to Markham, our relocation guide and relocation service cover the rest of the first month. Our buyers page explains how we work with people buying here. If you have questions about a particular street or building, contact us.