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Residents are being asked to step up and help out as Edmonton stares down a dismal report card on its recycling and waste diversion efforts.

More than 60 per cent of everything homeowners threw out in 2017 ended up in a landfill, a number that puts Edmonton among the laggards of Canadian municipalities.

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Starting next spring, 5,600 households could be asked to voluntarily participate in a green bin program and separate kitchen scraps and other organics into a separate bin. They may also get a new black bin to limit the amount of general trash they can set out for pick up.

The change would roll out to all single-family homes and be mandatory in 2020.

City crews also hope to start a separate yard waste pick up next year — with a free pickup day in May and October. But that would also be voluntary until city council changes the bylaws.

Afterward, city officials still intend to allow residents to drop off any yard waste they can’t store or compost themselves at an EcoStation for free.