You may be used to seeing black, blue and green bins on Calgary streets and alleys but you some have spotted a mysterious brown bin on some driveways.
A local posted to Reddit wondering what the brown bin they found in a residential area was for.
“I was walking around my neighbourhood yesterday and saw a brown bin. I’ve never seen one before and it’s not mentioned on the City of Calgary website. Does anyone know what they’re used for?” reads the post.
People jumped in with both real speculation and some less serious replies.
It was hard for some to avoid the fact that the bins are brown so it must hint at what they’re used for.
Others recognized the bins from different cities around Canada.
One of the most common suggestions was that it came from a private company and is used for garbage that exceeds the amount the city will take each week.
We dug around and found private companies that offer pick-up services, plus, Canadian Tire sells a similar-looking bin. We also reached out to the City of Calgary to find out what it had to say about the mysterious brown bin.
Curtis Sutton with Operational Services at the City of Calgary confirmed what many people already thought.
“The brown cart is not part of The City of Calgary’s residential cart program. This brown cart may belong to a private company that offers supplementary waste collection services,” he said.
“The City provides various options for households generating extra waste. Any residential dwelling that currently receives City residential blue, black, and green cart services is eligible for the additional cart program.”
If you are in search of ways to dispose of additional garbage from your home, Sutton says Calgarians can check out the additional cart program here or purchase tags for $3 to place on extra garbage bags for pick-up here.