Collingwood residents can get their yards ready for summer fun, as the County of Simcoe brings back its summer yard waste collection starting Monday, July 6, 2026. For the whole month, crews will pick up yard waste every other week on the same day as your regular garbage collection.
The seasonal service is free for households and is meant to help with the extra grass clippings, leaves, and garden trimmings that pile up during July. To take part, you must have your yard waste out at the curb by 7:00 a.m. on the Monday of your collection week.
According to the County of Simcoe, yard waste needs to go in kraft paper yard bags, cardboard boxes, or open-ended rigid containers. That means no plastic bags, even if they seem handy. If you have brush or branches to get rid of, tie them with natural twine. Bundles cannot be longer than two metres or wider than 30 centimetres in diameter.
What can you set out? Leaves, grass, garden waste, decorative cornstalks, and straw bales are all accepted. Items like pet waste, plastic, sod, soil, or sand should stay out of your yard waste pile. This program runs on garbage collection weeks, so if you are ever unsure about your specific schedule, the 2026 collection calendar has all the zone maps and dates. You can also download the Simcoe County Collects app for reminders right on your phone.
Yard waste collection is just one part of the County’s waste services. Garbage and organic pickup are also handled by the County locally, but recycling is now run by Circular Materials and collected by Emterra Environmental as of January 2026. If you have extra yard waste or miss a pickup, the Collingwood drop-off facility at 470 Tenth Line is open Monday through Saturday.
