How to set it up, what everything means, and how to share the job with the people you live with.
About 8 minutes to read. You only need Part 1 to get going.
The problem it solves
Recycling in Ontario is changing, and chances are nobody told you. A province-wide shift has been redrawing who collects your bins, what you are allowed to put in them, and where you go to find out. Your city's answer today may not be the answer it gave last year.
Meanwhile the everyday version of the problem never went away: four streams, different weeks, holiday shifts, a rule for pizza boxes that nobody can remember, and a city web page you have to go and find. Most households solve it by one person keeping it all in their head - and that person gets it wrong a few times a year.
BinPilot exists to end both. It works out who serves your exact address, tracks what they currently accept, and merges every stream into one calendar that stays right as things change. No lookups, no guessing, no missed weeks.
And the part nobody has offered you before
Everything above is about KNOWING which bin goes out. There is a second problem in most homes, and it is the one people have simply learned to live with: somebody has to actually do it, and remember to, every week, for ever.
In practice that becomes one person. They are the one who remembers, the one who notices at 10pm that it is recycling week, the one who ends up doing it themselves rather than asking again. It is a small job that never ends, and the effort of chasing it is usually larger than the job. Nobody has ever sold you a fix for that, because a calendar cannot fix it and a reminder app just nags the same person harder.
BinPilot Household is that fix. It names whose turn it is on every collection day and rotates automatically — holiday shifts included — so the rota is visible to everyone and nobody has to keep score. Whoever is on duty can settle it with a photo of the bins at the curb, stamped with their name and the time. If you are away that week, you swap the day with somebody rather than dropping it. Up to twenty people, each on their own phone, all looking at the same roster.
It also settles the arguing, which is the part households do not expect. The rota is the agreement, in one place everybody can see, so "it wasn't my week" stops being a matter of memory. Each duty leaves evidence: a photo of the bins at the curb with the name of whoever owed the chore and the time written into the picture. Not to catch anyone out — because nobody has to be the enforcer. The rule enforces itself, and the person who did do it gets the credit without having to claim it.
If you live alone, you will never need any of it, and the calendar is free for ever. But if the bins in your house are quietly one person's job, that is the thing to look at — and it is Part 3.
What BinPilot is
BinPilot tells you which bins to put out, and when, for your exact address in Ontario. Garbage, recycling, organics, yard waste and battery days all land in one calendar, so you stop checking a city website and stop guessing.
It also knows about holidays. When collection shifts for a public holiday, your calendar shifts with it.
Why the calendar is free
Knowing which bin goes out this week should not cost anything, and it should not need an account. So one address, the full calendar and the Sort look-up are free, permanently.
You do not sign in, you do not give us an email, and it keeps working offline once your schedule has loaded.
Why there is a paid part
Everything above answers the question for YOU. The paid part, Household, is for when more than one person shares the job.
It rotates whose turn it is, lets everyone see the same roster, and takes the remembering off one person's plate. If you live alone, or you are happy being the one who remembers, you never need it.
Part 1 - Setting up
Once, and it takes about a minute.
Add your address
Everything else depends on this. BinPilot needs to know which collection route you are on, and that is decided by your street address, not your city.
For example — You have just installed BinPilot and want tomorrow's answer before you go to bed.
Open BinPilot. The first screen asks for your address.
Start typing your house number and street. A list appears as you type - pick yours. Check the town shown underneath each one: several Ontario towns share street names, and picking the wrong town gives you the wrong collection days.
BinPilot shows what it found and how many collection days it has for you. If it looks right, tap Yes, use this.
What happens: Your calendar fills in straight away, and stays on the device - so it opens instantly next time, even with no signal.
Worth knowing: If BinPilot does not cover your town yet, it says so plainly rather than showing you a neighbouring town's collection days. A wrong day is worse than no day.
Your street is not in the list
The address search covers the communities BinPilot has verified. If yours is not there yet, you are not left with nothing.
For example — You have just moved to a smaller township and the street search comes up empty.
Under the address box, tap the line offering to choose your city instead.
Pick your city from the list.
You get that city's general collection information rather than a route-exact calendar.
What happens: Something useful now, and your exact address later when your community is added.
Read your calendar
The month view is deliberately quiet: a coloured dot per bin, so you can take it in at a glance.
For example — It is Sunday night and you cannot remember whether this is a recycling week.
Each coloured dot on a day is one bin collected that day.
Tap any day to see the bins named in full, so you never have to remember what a colour means.
A star marks an Ontario public holiday. If your collection actually moves that week, the calendar already shows the moved day.
What happens: You can answer the question - what goes out tomorrow - in about two seconds.
Read it without the calendar grid
A month grid is dense, and small coloured dots are exactly the wrong shape for anyone with low vision. Accessibility mode is not just larger type - it replaces the calendar with a different screen.
For example — Your mother is 78, keeps the phone at arm's length, and gave up on the last app that showed her a grid of tiny dots.
Settings, then Appearance, then Accessibility.
The grid disappears. In its place is the next collection in large, high-contrast type - the bins named in words, not dots - followed by a short list of what comes after it.
Everything else in the app stays where it was. Only the home screen changes.
What happens: One thing at a time, in type you can read across a room, answering the only question that usually matters: what goes out next.
Worth knowing: It shows exactly the same collections as the calendar - it is the same schedule presented differently, never a shortened version of it. It is also worth knowing this is a setting, not a separate mode you get stuck in: switch back to Standard at any time.
Choose a view that suits you
Not everyone wants the same amount of detail, and some people need bigger type.
For example — You have used the app for a month, you know green means organics, and you would rather see a clean calendar.
Go to the Settings tab and look under Appearance.
Standard is the default: the calendar plus a list underneath naming every pickup that month, spelled out. It suits most people, and nobody is confused by labels.
Simple shows colour dots only, with no names. Pick it once you know your colours.
What happens: The whole app follows your choice, and you can change it back whenever you like.
Part 2 - Every week
The two things you will actually do.
Check what goes out tomorrow
This is the whole point of the app, and it should take seconds.
For example — You are already in your pyjamas and you can hear a truck two streets over.
Open BinPilot. Today is highlighted on the calendar.
Tap tomorrow. The panel names every bin due that day.
Put those bins out.
What happens: No lookups, no guessing, no missed weeks.
Find out where something goes
Most arguments about bins are really one question: does this go in recycling or not?
For example — There is a greasy pizza box on the counter and two people in the kitchen who disagree about it.
Tap the Sort tab. You will see the main bins and a safety note about batteries and hazardous waste.
Type the item into the search box - pizza box, cup, battery.
What happens: A direct answer, including the awkward cases - a pizza box gets cut apart, not thrown whole into one bin.
Worth knowing: Recycling follows Ontario's province-wide list. How you set things out - bundling cardboard, booking bulky items, yard-waste season - varies by city, and BinPilot shows your city's own rule where it has it. When you are unsure, choose garbage over contaminating the recycling.
Put a copy on the fridge
Not everyone in the house has the app, and a paper calendar on the fridge still settles arguments.
For example — Your father looks after the bins on Tuesdays and does not want an app on his phone.
Tap the printer icon at the top of the Schedule tab.
BinPilot builds a printable calendar for the month you are looking at, with your address on it.
Print it, or save it as a PDF and send it to whoever needs it.
What happens: A calendar anyone in the house can read, with no app and no account.
Worth knowing: The button stays greyed out until a schedule has loaded - there is nothing to print before then.
Make it check for changes now
BinPilot keeps itself up to date on its own. Occasionally you want to make it look again.
For example — Your city announced a change to collection days and you want to see it straight away.
Tap the refresh icon at the top of the Schedule tab.
It re-fetches your schedule from your city's own source.
If that fails, your existing calendar stays exactly as it was. A failed check never replaces good information with nothing.
What happens: The newest schedule your city has published, or the one you already had.
You see a note about unrecognised labels
Cities invent their own words for collections. When BinPilot meets one it does not know, it says so rather than guessing.
For example — Your town runs an annual 'Curbside Giveaway Day' that no app has ever heard of.
A single line appears under the calendar mentioning unrecognised labels.
Tap it to see the exact wording your city used.
Those days are still shown. They are simply not sorted into a bin, because guessing the wrong bin would be worse than admitting the app does not know.
What happens: You see everything your city published, and you can tell what BinPilot is sure about from what it is not.
Worth knowing: It is a prompt to check that one word on your city's page, not a sign that anything is broken.
Part 3 - Sharing the job
This part is BinPilot Household, and it is the paid one. It is free for 30 days.
Decide whether you need it
Plainly: if you live alone, you do not.
For example — Four of you live there, and all four weeks of the month are somehow yours.
Household is for homes where more than one person could take the bins out, and one person always ends up doing it.
It names whose turn it is and rotates automatically on every collection day, holiday shifts included.
Everyone in the household sees the same roster, so nobody has to keep score in their head.
It also unlocks collection-day reminders, proof photos, turn swapping, and up to three addresses.
What happens: The bins stop being one person's job to remember.
Start the 30-day free trial
So you can see it working in your own home before deciding.
For example — You want to see whether a rota actually stops the arguing before you pay for one.
Tap the Roster tab, then Start free trial.
Fill in your name, email and household address. You are the plan administrator - the person who can invite and remove people.
Tap Start free trial. No card is asked for, and nothing is charged during the trial.
What happens: Household features unlock immediately, for 30 days.
Worth knowing: The trial is counted on our side rather than on your phone, so reinstalling the app or changing your device clock does not restart it - and does not cut it short either.
Set up your household
The roster needs to know who is in it, and in what order the turn passes.
For example — Two parents, two teenagers, and a standing Sunday-night dispute about whose turn it is.
BinPilot walks you through three steps: your address, your household, then invites.
Name the household - whatever you call it at home is fine - and add everyone by name, in the order you want turns to pass. You are member number one, and your name shows on your own duty days.
Names are enough to start. Nobody else needs the app installed yet for the rotation to work.
Choose the date the rotation starts from.
What happens: From that date on, every collection day carries a name: whose turn it is. It rotates by itself, holiday shifts included.
Worth knowing: You can change the turn order later by dragging people up and down, and you can schedule the new order to start on a future date instead of immediately. A household holds up to five people and five devices; there is no larger plan to buy today, so if you need more, tell us.
Get a reminder the night before
Knowing your schedule and remembering it on the right evening are two different problems. This one solves the second.
For example — You know the schedule perfectly well. You just keep remembering it at 7am, through the window, as the truck goes past.
Settings, then Reminders, and turn the switch on.
You get a notification before each collection day, listing the bins to put out - not just that something is due.
Reminders cover EVERY address you have saved, not only the one currently on screen. Adding a second home does not mean remembering that one yourself.
With more than one address, each reminder names the house it is about, using the name you gave that address. With a single address the wording stays as it is, unqualified - there is nothing to tell apart.
If your phone has notifications switched off for BinPilot, the app says so right there rather than failing quietly, and tells you where to turn them on: your phone's Settings, then Apps, then BinPilot, then Notifications.
What happens: An evening nudge naming the exact bins, and the exact house, so the calendar stops being something you have to remember to check.
Worth knowing: Reminders are part of Household, and the app offers the free trial when you turn them on. An unqualified reminder about an unspecified house would be worse than none, which is why the naming only appears once you have more than one address.
Give someone their own copy
Names on your phone are enough to run a rotation. Inviting people is what lets them see it on their own device, and take their own proof photos.
For example — Your partner keeps asking you whether it is their week. You would like the phone to tell them.
Open the Roster tab and tap the envelope on the person's seat.
Send the invite by email, by text message, or copy the link and send it however you like.
They install BinPilot and open the link, which claims their seat. They do not need their own subscription - your household covers them.
What happens: Everyone sees the same roster, and it stays in step across devices.
Worth knowing: You need to be signed in before you can invite anyone, so the roster has somewhere to sync to.
Join a household you were invited to
The other side of an invite. You need the link AND access to the mailbox it went to - both, so that forwarding a link to somebody does not hand them your seat.
For example — Your housemate set the roster up and sent you a link.
Open the invite link on the phone you will use. If it does not open the app by itself, open BinPilot, choose the option for having an invite, and paste the link.
BinPilot emails the invited address. Open that email and follow it - this is the step that proves the mailbox is yours.
You return to the app and your seat is claimed.
What happens: You are in the household, seeing the same roster as everyone else, without needing your own subscription.
Worth knowing: The email step leaves the app and comes back. That is expected, not a failure - you can close BinPilot in between.
Be a member of someone else's household
Joining somebody's household is a different experience from running one, and the differences surprise people. The person who set it up is the admin; everyone else is a member.
For example — Your housemate pays for BinPilot and added you. You want to know what you can and cannot change, and whether you are stuck with their address.
You see the household's address marked as shared with you, rather than one you typed. That is where the rotation runs.
The rotation order, the members and the invites are managed by the admin - you will see a note saying so. You cannot reorder the rota or invite people.
Everything that IS yours lives on the Schedule tab: tap any collection day to see your duties, mark them done, take a proof photo, or propose a swap.
You can also set up your own address, and even start your own household at it, while staying on theirs. You have to set your own address first, because your own rotation runs against it.
What happens: You take part fully - duties, swaps, proof - without needing your own subscription, and without being locked into somebody else's address.
Worth knowing: If the admin's subscription lapses, the rotation pauses for everyone in that household and the app says so. Your own collection calendar is free and carries on regardless.
Mark a duty done - with or without a photo
So nobody has to take anyone's word for it, and nobody has to remember who did what.
For example — Somebody swears they took the bins out. The bins were not out.
Go to the Schedule tab and tap the collection day. Duties, swaps and proof photos all live on the day itself, not on the Roster tab.
Tap Done, with proof. The camera opens straight to the shutter - one tap, no picking a photo out of your gallery afterwards.
BinPilot writes the name of whoever's duty it was, and the time, into the corner of the picture itself. You do not type anything.
Or tap Mark done without photo if a photo is more trouble than it is worth. The duty still counts as done.
What happens: The day shows as done, with the photo attached if you took one, and everyone in the household can see it.
Worth knowing: Why the name and time are written into the picture rather than shown beside it: a photo of bins at a curb, on its own, proves neither whose turn it was nor when it was taken. Burning them into the image means the answer travels with it - saved to a phone or forwarded to someone, the name and the time are still there. It names the person whose duty it was, not whoever held the phone, so when an admin snaps it on somebody else's behalf the credit still goes to the right person.
Know how long a proof photo lasts
Photos of your home are not something anyone wants kept indefinitely, and a proof only has a job to do until the bins have actually gone.
For example — You are happy to prove the bins went out; you are less happy about photos of your driveway living somewhere for ever.
A proof photo is deleted automatically on the eve of your next garbage day - one full collection cycle, not a fixed number of days. If your garbage is weekly that is about a week; if it is every other week, about a fortnight.
Bonus or exemption garbage days do not count as the anchor, so the window stays predictable rather than being cut short by a one-off extra collection.
If you want to keep a photo, save it to your own device while it is still there.
An expired proof shows a short message saying it is no longer available, rather than a broken image. The same message appears if you are offline, since photos live with the household rather than only on your phone.
What happens: The record of who did what stays. The picture goes once it has done its job.
Worth knowing: If you leave a household, your proof photos there are deleted with your seat, and the app says so before you confirm.
Swap a turn when life gets in the way
Being away on your week should not mean the bins do not go out, and it should not mean a permanent change to the order.
For example — You are away for work on your week and do not want to come back to a full bin and a grudge.
On the Schedule tab, tap your duty day and choose Swap this day.
Pick a future day belonging to the person you want to swap with.
They see the proposal in the household's Proposed swaps and accept it.
What happens: The two days trade hands. The underlying rotation is untouched, so the following weeks carry on as before.
Keep up to three addresses
Household covers three addresses; the free app keeps one. Each gets its own calendar, and each is watched independently - they are not one calendar with extra pins in it.
For example — You do the bins at your own place and at your father's, the two towns collect on different days, and you have missed his more than once.
On the Schedule tab, use Add more addresses.
Add it the way you added the first: type it, pick it from the list, confirm it.
Give it a name with 'Name this address' - Home, Mum's, The cottage. This is worth doing rather than skipping: the name is what your reminders will call it.
Switch between saved addresses from the same card. Whichever you are looking at, all of them stay watched.
What happens: Three separate calendars, three sets of reminders, one app - and each reminder tells you which house it means.
Worth knowing: If your subscription lapses you go back to one address. The others are not deleted, and they come back if you resubscribe.
Change the turn order
People move out, someone takes on more, a child gets old enough to help.
For example — Your daughter leaves for university in September and should come off the rota that week, not today.
Open the Roster tab and drag people up or down into the order you want.
Apply it now, or set a date for the new order to start.
Somebody can also be taken out of the rotation without being removed from the household.
What happens: Turns pass in the new order from the date you chose.
Worth knowing: Only the household admin changes the order, the members and the invites. Everyone else manages their own duties, swaps and photos from the Schedule tab.
Remove someone, or leave a household yourself
Households change.
For example — You are moving out and want your photos of somebody else's house gone.
An admin removes a member from that person's seat on the Roster tab.
To leave a household you belong to, use Leave household.
Leaving means losing access to that household's schedule, and your proof photos there are deleted. You can be invited back later.
What happens: The rotation carries on without that seat.
Worth knowing: Leaving one household does not affect any other you belong to, and you can start your own at your own address.
Part 4 - Your account and settings
None of this applies until you sign in, and you only sign in for Household.
Create an account and sign in
The free calendar needs no account at all. You make one only when you want Household, because a roster has to read the same on everybody's phone.
For example — You are setting up the roster and want it on your partner's phone too.
Enter your email address and choose a password. It must be at least 8 characters.
BinPilot emails you a code. Type it in to confirm the address is really yours.
That is it. You are signed in and the roster syncs to this device.
What happens: Your household follows your account rather than your phone, so a new phone does not mean starting again.
Worth knowing: If a signup looks like it did nothing, check your email for the code before trying again. The account is usually already created, and a second attempt will only tell you the address is in use.
Change or reset your password
Passwords get forgotten.
For example — New phone, and the password you chose in March is gone.
On the sign-in screen, ask for a reset for your email address.
Follow the emailed link and choose a new password - at least 8 characters, typed twice so a typo cannot lock you out.
Your household, roster and history are untouched.
What happens: You are back in, with everything as you left it.
Use BinPilot in your language
The app is translated into 22 languages.
For example — The person in your house who actually does the bins reads Portuguese more comfortably than English.
Settings, then Language.
Automatic follows your phone's language. Or pick one from the list.
What happens: The whole app switches immediately.
Unlock with your face or fingerprint
The free calendar has no account and nothing to protect, so this only appears once you have signed in to a Household. What it protects is your sign-in - and behind it your household: who lives there, whose turn it is, and photos taken outside your home.
For example — You open the app most days and would rather not type a password at the front door with an armful of shopping.
Settings, then Face / fingerprint unlock. It sits under Security, and only appears when you are signed in.
Turn it on. Your sign-in is then kept on this phone behind the screen lock you already use, so you are not typing a password every time you open the app.
There is nothing to choose between face and fingerprint. BinPilot asks your phone for the strongest sensor it has and uses that, so you get one prompt rather than a menu.
What happens: The app opens with the same gesture you already use to unlock the phone, and your password stays available if the sensor will not read.
Worth knowing: Turn it off on a shared phone: it keeps YOUR sign-in ready on that device. If you do not see the setting at all, either you are not signed in yet, or the phone has no face or fingerprint enrolled - set one up in your phone's own settings first. It can also switch itself off after a factory reset or a restore onto a new phone, because the stored sign-in did not come with you; sign in once more and turn it back on.
Know what happens to your data if you cancel
So there is no unpleasant surprise, and so you know in advance what you would have to set up again.
For example — The trial is ending and you want to know exactly what you lose, and what you keep, before you decide.
Your calendar and the Sort look-up carry on exactly as before. They are free, they need no account, and cancelling does not touch them.
Reminders are switched off.
You go back to a single address: the one you were last looking at. The second and third are removed from the app, so if you resubscribe you add them again. If you want them, print or note them down first.
The duty roster pauses. Names, swaps and proof photos are hidden - but the household itself, its members and its turn order are not deleted. They come back as they were when the subscription is renewed.
Proof photos are on their own clock regardless, and expire whether or not you are subscribed.
What happens: You keep the thing you came for. The shared-household layer pauses rather than disappearing, and the only thing you genuinely have to redo is your extra addresses.
Worth knowing: If you are a MEMBER of somebody else's household and their subscription lapses, the app tells you plainly that the rotation is paused and their admin can renew to restore it. Your own collection schedule is unaffected. Deleting your account is a different thing entirely, and is not reversible - see that task.
See which devices are using your subscription
Your plan covers a set number of devices, and a phone you no longer own should not keep holding one.
For example — You have upgraded your phone twice this year and the new one will not sign in.
Settings, then Your devices.
You see each device currently using a slot.
Free the slot belonging to any device you no longer use.
What happens: The slot comes back immediately and the next device can sign in.
Worth knowing: This is why the screen exists. Before it, replacing your phone a few times could quietly use up every slot with no way to get one back.
Read the privacy policy and the terms
You should not have to go and find a website to learn what an app does with your information.
For example — You are about to put your address and your family's names into an app and would like to read the terms first.
Settings, then Privacy Policy or Terms of Use, under Legal.
Both open inside the app.
What happens: They are part of the app itself, so they open with no connection and cannot go missing.
Delete your account
You are entitled to leave.
For example — You are leaving, and you want your data to leave with you.
Settings, then your account, then delete.
You are asked to type the word DELETE. That is deliberate: a second 'are you sure' button gets tapped out of habit, and this cannot be undone.
If you are the admin of a household, deleting your account takes that household with it. Hand it over or warn the others first.
What happens: The account and its data are removed.
Worth knowing: Everything else destructive in BinPilot can be undone by an admin. This cannot.
Part 5 - If something looks wrong
The three things people ask about.
Your town is not listed
BinPilot only publishes a community once its schedule has been checked against the city's own sources.
For example — You live outside the towns BinPilot has verified and want to know whether it is coming.
You will see a plain message saying the area is not covered, rather than a calendar.
That is deliberate. Showing you a nearby town's days would look right and be wrong.
You can register your address on unigata.com so we know where to go next.
What happens: You will be told the moment your area is verified.
The calendar stops part way through the year
Cities publish their calendars a year at a time.
For example — It is December and next year's dates are not there yet.
Past the last published date, BinPilot says the schedule is not published beyond that day.
It does not invent dates that look plausible.
When your city publishes the next year, it appears on its own.
What happens: You can trust every date you can see.
You are offline
Bins happen whether or not you have signal.
For example — You are at the cottage with one bar of signal, wondering about the bins at home.
Your saved schedule is on the device, so the calendar opens normally.
If BinPilot could not refresh, it tells you when it last updated.
What happens: You still get an answer.
Tell us something is wrong
A wrong bin day is worth reporting, and 'it did not work' is hard to act on.
For example — Your green bin day looked wrong last week and you want it fixed for your whole street.
Settings, then Diagnostics.
It shows what the app recorded about itself - what it fetched, how long it took, what failed - newest first.
Tap Copy and paste it into your message to us.
What happens: We can see what actually happened instead of guessing.
Worth knowing: The log holds no addresses, no names and no passwords. It is safe to send.
What it costs
Household, by how many people it covers. Everything in Part 1 and Part 2 is free, and always will be.
Plan
5
10
15
20
Monthly
$3.99
$6.99
$9.99
$13.99
Annual
$29.99
$53.99
$77.99
$101.99
Lifetime
$49.99
$89.99
$129.99
$169.99
Worth knowing: these are the Canadian list prices. Your app store shows the price in your own currency, including any tax, at the moment you buy — and that is the price that governs. Every plan includes the 30-day free trial, and on every plan each member gets their own five devices.
