Kitchener Leaf Collection and Waterloo Region Yard Waste

Kitchener's loose leaf curbside weeks for 2026 are November 2 to 6, November 9 to 13 and November 16 to 20, and the city's eight leaf drop-off sites are open daily from October 9 to December 4. Everything else in your yard, branches, hedge trimmings, sod, the old deck boards, runs on a different set of rules with hard weight and size limits. This guide covers all of it for Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge: what each program takes, what it quietly refuses, and what it costs when you have to move the pile yourself. For the pile none of the programs will take, we do yard waste removal as part of our junk removal in Kitchener service.

Kitchener's loose leaf collection, and who actually gets it

Kitchener collects loose leaves in neighbourhoods with significant tree cover, on a set schedule, not city-wide. If your street is not in a leaf collection zone, nobody is coming to vacuum your curb and the leaves are yours to bag. The city's leaf options lookup tool takes an address and tells you which of the two you are.

For the streets that are covered, the 2026 curbside weeks are:

Two rules decide whether your pile actually gets picked up. Rake the leaves out before 7 a.m. on your collection date, and do not rake them to the road any earlier than the weekend before. A pile that goes out two weeks early sits in the gutter, packs down in the rain and blocks drainage, which is why the window is written the way it is.

Keep the pile off storm drains, off sidewalks and out of bike lanes. Those three are not style preferences. A leaf pile over a storm grate is a flooded intersection after the first heavy November rain, and a pile in a bike lane pushes a cyclist into traffic.

The eight Kitchener leaf drop-off sites

If you miss your week, or your street is not in a collection zone, Kitchener opens eight leaf drop-off sites from October 9 to December 4, 2026, seven days a week during daylight hours: Schaefer Park, Breithaupt Park, the Kitchener Auditorium, Meinzinger Park, Lions Arena, Budd Park, Cherry Park and Hofstetter Park.

One detail catches people every year. The sites take loose leaves only. If you bagged the leaves to get them into the car, you empty the bags at the site and take the bags home with you. Leaving full bags there is not a drop-off, it is dumping.

Waterloo and Cambridge run their own programs, and they are not the same

City of Waterloo. Waterloo collects from boulevard trees only, meaning the trees between the sidewalk and the road, not your backyard maple. Collection is by zone, residents rake to the curb by 7 a.m. on the first day of their collection week, and sticks and other non-leaf material have to come out of the pile first. The line that matters most: crews visit each zone once only and do not return for missed piles. One pass, one chance. Waterloo also notes that Kitchener handles collection on certain designated border streets, so an address near the city line may be on a different schedule than the neighbours across the road.

City of Cambridge. Cambridge runs its loose leaf program city-wide rather than by tree cover, and it generally begins in the second week of November and wraps up in the first week of December. The city does not publish fixed dates in advance because conditions vary across Cambridge, and it says plainly that heavy snowfall and sustained freezing temperatures can end the program early. Rake to the side of the road as close to the edge of the roadway as you can, keep sticks and branches out of the pile, and keep leaves off storm sewer grates, sidewalks and bike lanes. Cambridge takes loose leaves only; bagged leaves are not collected on this service, and the city points bagged leaves and other yard waste to the Cambridge Waste Management Centre at 201 Savage Drive, Monday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., where fees may apply.

Regional yard waste collection: the limits that catch people

Leaves are the seasonal program. Everything else green is the Region of Waterloo's yard waste collection, which runs seasonally from late March to the end of November or early December, and is collected every second week, on the opposite week from your garbage.

It is picked up in three forms, and each one has a limit:

• Paper yard waste bags. Not overfilled, and kept dry so they do not tear.
• Rigid containers. A reusable can under 48 cm in diameter, 84 cm in height and 121 litres in volume, with two handles, set out without a lid, and marked with a bright ribbon on the handle or a yard waste sticker so crews know it is not garbage.
• Bundled branches. Maximum 7.5 cm (3 inches) thick, maximum 92 cm (3 feet) long, tied with jute or cotton twine. Not plastic rope, not bungee cords, not wire.

And the ceiling that ends most projects: every bag, can and bundle has to be under 23 kg (50 lb). Wet leaves and fresh green cuttings are heavy. A paper bag that looks half full can already be over the limit, and an overweight bag is left at the curb.

Set everything at the curb by 7 a.m. on your collection day.

What no leaf or yard waste program will take, at any volume

This is the part worth reading before you start a project, because none of it is negotiable at the curb. The Region's yard waste collection does not accept:

• Oversized or unbundled branches, which means anything over 7.5 cm thick or 92 cm long
• Stumps
• Sod, soil and dirt
• Stones
• Treated wood, which covers old deck boards, landscape ties and pressure-treated fence rails
• Wooden pallets
• Renovation waste
• Noxious weeds, pet waste, plastic, glass, metal and general litter

Read that list against a real fall job. Taking down a hedge produces branches thicker than three inches. A tree that came down in a wind storm produces a trunk. Digging out a garden bed produces sod and soil. Pulling a rotten deck produces treated wood, which is the one material on the list that is genuinely hazardous to burn and is refused everywhere, curbside and at the drop-off leaf sites both.

Those jobs were never curbside jobs. They go to a Region drop-off site, or into somebody's truck. That is what our yard waste and outdoor junk removal crews spend October and November doing, and it is usually cheaper than three weekends of trips once you count the fuel, the tipping fees and the tarp you buy at the gate.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: Region of Waterloo yard waste collection, City of Kitchener leaf collection, City of Waterloo loose leaf collection, City of Cambridge leaf collection. Fee schedule effective April 1, 2026. Municipal dates and rates change every year, so confirm your week against your own city's page before you rake.

Reviewed August 2026.

Got more than leaves? (548) 490-4915