Announcement poster for Heavy Garbage Pick-up 2025 showing discarded furniture and household items by the roadside. Text on the image reads: 'Starting April 21, 2025. Heavy Garbage Pick-up 2025. Pick-up will start on April 21, 2025 and continuing until all areas in the County have been visited.

Announcing Heavy Garbage Collection 2025 

The Municipality of the County of will start picking up heavy garbage from homes on Monday, April 21st, 2025. The collection will continue until all areas have been done. Areas will only be visited ONCE – please have your items out for collection by 6:00 a.m. April 21st. Items should not be placed out after your area has been collected, as they will not be picked up.

NOTE FOR 2025: The collection is being completed by a 3rd party contractor this year – the route will likely vary.

Please read the rules below to make sure your items are picked up. 

General Rules & Guidelines: 

• Put your heavy garbage at the curb by 6:00 AM on Monday, April 21st, 2025. Trucks will start picking up on Monday and keep going until they finish all areas. 

• Do not put your regular garbage, recycling, or food waste with your heavy garbage. Keep these items separate. They will be picked up on your normal collection day. 

• Put wood and metal in different piles. Leave at least 1.2 metres (4 feet) of space between them. 

• Only items listed as heavy garbage will be picked up. 

Acceptable Heavy Garbage Waste Streams: 

• Bulky Material: This includes sofas, mattresses, roof shingles, bagged insulation, carpets, flooring, furniture, box springs, vinyl windows, and similar items. 

• Metal Material: This includes large metal items like fridges, stoves, freezers, dishwashers, metal fences, bikes, water tanks, and steel bathtubs. 

Note: Fridges and freezers must be empty before they can be picked up. 

• Wood Material: This includes taken-apart fences, wooden stairs, wood posts, wood shingles, taken-apart decks, and similar items. 

Note: All wood must be taken apart and must not be longer than 4 feet. 

Unacceptable Material for Heavy Garbage Collection 

The following items will not be picked up as heavy garbage: 

• Regular household garbage, recycling, or food waste 

• Car parts 

• Car tires 

• Branches, twigs, brush, or roots 

• Propane tanks or gas cylinders 

• Cement, mortar, or bricks 

• Computers, monitors, TVs, microwaves, or stereo systems 

• Ride-on lawn mowers 

• Oil tanks 

Why is collection happening earlier this year?

It was brought to our attention that businesses in the county felt heavy garbage collection ran too late and looked bad when tourists were starting to arrive in spring.  Therefore, in 2025, collection is starting approximately two weeks earlier than previous years.

Heavy Garbage Notice 2025Download

Update: Public Works Department

Victoria County Council met with representatives from the municipal Public Works department on Monday Sept 13, 2021 for an update on various projects.

  • Heavy Garbage collection begins September 27, 2021. Look for a Heavy Garbage newsletter in your mailbox this week.
  • Water Rate Study: As regulated, Victoria County must undertake a Water Rate Study for all its water utilities. A consultant has been hired to review all water utility rates in the county. It is expected the report will be presented to council sometime this fall.  The rate study will then be presented to the NS UARB (Nova Scotia Utility & Review Board), the board which sets water rates. A notice will be posted on the Victoria County website prior to a public hearing.
  • Baddeck Courthouse building: A tender has been issued to conduct a facilities assessment on the Baddeck Courthouse, to look at the long-term viability of the building, as well as up-coming accessibility requirements. The consultant will provide a report sometime next month with any issues and potential costs.
  • Neil’s Harbour Water Treatment: Work continues on upgrades to the Neil’s Harbour water treatment plant. All is on track for a December completion.
  • ICI-Tags: A pilot project was proposed to answer concerns from the business community regarding getting their waste to our facilities. The project would see businesses in the ICI sector (Industrial, Commercial, Institutions) purchase ICI-Tags from the municipality to allow them to add up to 4 more bags to their weekly collection. Staff are working on details of how the program will work, the cost of the tags, and other details. Council voted to proceed with a 1-year ICI-Tag pilot project to begin in November, once all the details are worked out.

The next Victoria County council session is Monday September 20, 2021 beginning at 5 pm in Council Chambers in the Baddeck Courthouse. Tune in to see presentations this week from the Cape Breton Victoria Centre for Education and the Nova Scotia Health Authority. Council sessions are live streamed on our Facebook page and posted on the Victoria County YouTube channel.