Copyright Policy

1. Our Copyright Commitment

garbage-collection.org/ publishes practical guides to municipal garbage, recycling, organics, and yard-waste collection across Canada. The vast majority of factual content we publish — municipal portal URLs, collection schedules, accepted-materials lists under provincial EPR programs, depot locations, statutory citations — is not copyrightable as factual data under either Canadian or U.S. law. Where we do use creative content, we either own it, have permission to use it, or use it under fair-dealing provisions of the Canadian Copyright Act (section 29) or fair use under U.S. law (17 U.S.C. § 107) with attribution.

If you believe content on the site infringes a copyright you own or control, this page tells you how to ask us to address it.

2. Municipal and PRO Data Carve-Out — Read First

3. Who Can File a Notice

• The owner of copyright in the allegedly infringed work, or
• A person authorized to act on behalf of the owner (a lawyer, agent, or employee with written authorization)

If you are not the owner and do not have written authority, we cannot accept the notice — but we will note the concern and look at it under our editorial-corrections process if it raises a credible question.

4. Canadian Notice-and-Notice — Copyright Act ss. 41.25–41.27

Under Canadian law (sections 41.25–41.27 of the Copyright Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42), a copyright owner may send a notice of claimed infringement to an internet intermediary. Unlike the U.S. DMCA, the Canadian regime does not require the intermediary to remove the material — instead, the intermediary forwards the notice to the alleged infringer and retains records. A valid Canadian notice must include:

1. The claimant’s name and address and any other contact information prescribed by regulation.
2. Identification of the work in which the copyright is claimed.
3. A statement of the claimant’s interest or right with respect to the copyright in the work.
4. The location data for the electronic location to which the claimed infringement relates (e.g., the URL on garbage-collection.org/).
5. The infringement that is claimed — what was done that allegedly infringes.
6. The date and time of the claimed infringement.
7. Any other information that may be prescribed by regulation.

5. DMCA Notice Elements — 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)

For users in the United States, or for any aspect of the site reachable from the U.S., a DMCA takedown notice must include all six of the following:

1. Physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive copyright right that is allegedly infringed.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed (or, if multiple works at one site, a representative list).
3. Identification of the allegedly infringing material with sufficient detail for us to locate it — the full URL on garbage-collection.org/ and a description of the specific element claimed to infringe.
4. Contact information — your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address.
5. A good-faith statement that you believe the use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive copyright right that is allegedly infringed.

6. How to Submit a Notice

Send the notice by email to info@garbage-collection.org with the subject line “Copyright Notice” (specifying “Canadian” or “DMCA” in the body). We acknowledge receipt within five business days.

7. What Happens After You Send a Notice

• Acknowledgment within five business days confirming receipt and noting whether all required elements are present
• Editorial review — we look at the cited material and consider whether the notice is well-founded
• Municipal-data check — before any action, we confirm the material is not factual municipal or PRO data covered by Section 2 of this policy
• Action where appropriate — for DMCA notices, if we conclude the material is infringing, we will take it down or replace it; for Canadian Notice-and-Notice, we forward the notice as required by sections 41.25–41.27
• Notice to the original poster — if a third-party contributor posted the material, we notify them and (for DMCA) give them the chance to file a counter-notice under § 512(g)

8. DMCA Counter-Notice — 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)

If your content was removed under a DMCA notice and you believe the takedown was a mistake or misidentification, you may file a counter-notice. Once we receive a valid counter-notice, we forward it to the original notice sender. The original sender then has 10–14 business days to file a court action seeking an injunction. If they do not, we may restore the content.

9. Counter-Notice Required Elements

A counter-notice must include all of the following:

• Physical or electronic signature of the person filing the counter-notice
• Identification of the material that was removed and the URL where it appeared before removal
• A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed by mistake or misidentification
• Your name, address, and telephone number
• A statement consenting to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or, if outside the U.S., for any judicial district where we may be found), and that you will accept service from the person who provided the original takedown notice

10. Repeat-Infringer Policy

We adopt and reasonably implement a policy for terminating, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users who are repeat infringers — as required for DMCA safe-harbor protection under 17 U.S.C. § 512(i) and as a matter of best practice under Canadian law. If a third-party contributor receives multiple substantiated notices, we may suspend or terminate their access without notice.

11. Misuse of Notices

12. Fair Dealing Under Canadian Law

Section 29 of the Canadian Copyright Act establishes “fair dealing” exceptions for research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, review, and news reporting. Before forwarding a Canadian Notice-and-Notice or complying with a DMCA takedown, we may evaluate whether the use complained of is fair dealing in Canada or fair use in the U.S. (17 U.S.C. § 107). Education, criticism, review, and news reporting are commonly fair-dealing purposes. Where we conclude the use is fair, we may decline takedown and tell you why.

13. Trademark Complaints

Copyright procedures address copyright, not trademark. If you believe your trademark — a municipal seal, PRO logo, or other mark — is being used on the site in a way that creates likelihood of consumer confusion, depreciation of goodwill (Canadian Trademarks Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. T-13, section 22), or trademark infringement, send a separate complaint to info@garbage-collection.org with the subject line “Trademark complaint.” Include the trademark, registration number (if any), the URL where the alleged infringement appears, and a description of the alleged infringement.

14. Defamation

Defamation, right-of-personality (Quebec), and privacy concerns are not copyright matters and we cannot resolve them through this procedure. If you believe published content about you is false and defamatory under provincial defamation law, contact us with the subject line “Defamation concern” and provide the URL, the specific statement you believe is false, and the basis for that belief.

15. Designated Contact

16. Contact

For copyright matters, email info@garbage-collection.org with the appropriate subject line. For general copyright questions that are not formal notices, use subject “Copyright inquiry.”