Official membership terms

1. What FreeWoodChips.ca is

FreeWoodChips.ca is the official independent listing board for leftover arborist chips in Ontario. It helps residents who want wood chips find tree-care companies that need a nearby place to empty a chip box. FreeWoodChips.ca does not sell mulch, operate trucks, employ crews, schedule dumps, inspect sites, or take a fee on a drop.

FreeWoodChips.ca is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to ChipDrop, Chip Drop LLC, getchipdrop.com, or any tree company. We do not use their trademarks, logos, photos, or copied website text.

When a crew dumps chips at a listed site, that dump is an agreement between the resident and the tree company only. FreeWoodChips.ca is not a party to the dump and does not guarantee that a load will arrive, species, moisture, cleanliness, volume, or that either side will follow instructions. Optional tips are arranged directly. This site never processes that money.

2. Who may use it

You must be 18 or older. You need an account. Opening an account includes signing these membership terms. Email sign-up must be confirmed before you list, claim, or rate. Google and X already confirm the address.

Residents must own the property or have clear written or verbal permission from the owner. Public land is not allowed. Crews must be legally able to operate in Ontario.

You may not use the board if you do not accept these terms, the indemnification clause, and the force majeure clause.

3. Resident promises

You can accept a full truckload at a marked, reachable spot on private property. You will not list parks, road allowances, municipal boulevards, schoolyards, conservation land, or any other public property.

Your notes, pin, access details, and backup spot are accurate. You accept that heavy trucks can mark driveways and that spreading the pile is your job.

The exact street address and phone you list stay hidden from crews until a crew claims the drop. City and dump notes stay visible so crews can decide.

You will keep the marked spot clear on the day a crew may arrive. Timing is not promised.

4. Crew promises

Dump only the material type the listing allows, and only on the private property named in the listing. Never dump on public land, parks, boulevards, road allowances, or in the travelled portion of a street.

You only receive the exact street address and phone after you claim a listing. Do not share those details. Follow the marked spot or the written backup. If you cannot do it safely, leave. You remain responsible for how you drive, raise the box, and leave the site.

5. Indemnification

If a drop leads to a claim, you cover FreeWoodChips.ca. We only introduce residents and crews. We do not drive the truck or own the yard.

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless FreeWoodChips.ca, its operator, directors, officers, volunteers, and contractors (the “Released Parties”) from and against any and all claims, demands, actions, damages, losses, injuries, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) that arise out of or relate to: (a) your use of FreeWoodChips.ca; (b) a listing, claim, rating, or message you post; (c) a wood-chip, log, or debris dump at a site you listed or claimed; (d) injury to any person, or damage to property, vehicles, utilities, plantings, septic systems, pavement, or neighbouring land; (e) dumping or listing on land you did not have the legal right to use, including public land; (f) your breach of these terms; or (g) a dispute between a resident and a crew.

This indemnification applies even if a claim alleges that a Released Party was negligent in operating the matching board, except that you are not required to indemnify a Released Party for that party’s own fraud or wilful misconduct.

You agree that FreeWoodChips.ca is a matching venue only. You will not name FreeWoodChips.ca as a contractor, supervisor, carrier, or insurer of a dump. You will look first to the other party to the dump, and to your own insurance, for any loss connected to a drop.

If a Released Party is pulled into a claim covered by this clause, you will, at your expense, cooperate in the defence and will not settle a claim that imposes an obligation on a Released Party without that party’s prior written consent, not to be unreasonably withheld.

6. Force majeure

Storms, ice, road closures, broken trucks, and other events beyond anyone’s control are not a breach. Nobody is owed a dump.

Neither you, the other party to a drop, nor FreeWoodChips.ca is liable for delay, interruption, or failure to perform caused by events beyond that party’s reasonable control (“force majeure”). Force majeure includes, without limitation: severe weather, ice, snow, flooding, fire, windstorm, heat, drought, or other acts of God; power, internet, or road closures; municipal, provincial, conservation-authority, or police orders; labour disputes; equipment breakdown or accident; shortage of fuel; pandemic or public-health order; war, terrorism, or civil unrest; and any other event that a reasonable tree crew or resident could not have prevented.

A missed, late, partial, or cancelled dump because a crew’s day ran long, a truck or chipper failed, a storm made the site or the roads unsafe, or a host was not ready, is not a breach of these terms and does not create a right to damages, credits, or a replacement load.

FreeWoodChips.ca does not guarantee that any listing will receive a dump, that a claimed site will still be open when the truck arrives, or that the board will be available without interruption.

If force majeure continues for more than 14 days, either party to a claimed (but not yet dropped) listing may treat the claim as cancelled and the site may be listed as open again. No penalty applies.

7. Risk and limitation of liability

You use FreeWoodChips.ca at your own risk. Wood chips may include mixed species, leaves, twigs, and occasional debris. They are not playground fibre and not coloured landscape mulch. They can harbour insects, fungus, or black walnut residue. You decide whether a load is suitable for your land.

To the fullest extent allowed by Ontario law, the Released Parties are not liable for dumps, missed dumps, chip quality, driveway or lawn damage, pests, allergic reactions, lost profits, or disputes between users, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise. Any liability that cannot be excluded is limited to $50 CAD in aggregate.

Nothing here limits liability that Ontario law does not allow you to waive, including liability for fraud or for death or personal injury caused by a Released Party’s own negligence where such a waiver is forbidden.

8. Ratings

After a drop, each side may rate whether instructions and site notes were followed. Repeated abuse can close a listing or an account. Ratings must be about the drop, not personal attacks.

9. Electronic signatures and PDF records

Checking the acceptance boxes and typing your name is an electronic signature under Ontario’s Electronic Commerce Act, 2000. It is intended to be as binding as a handwritten signature.

FreeWoodChips.ca stores a snapshot of the membership terms you accepted, with your name, email, role, and the time of acceptance. You can download that membership PDF from My agreements. A copy of the signed membership terms PDF is emailed to freewoodchips@gmail.com for FreeWoodChips.ca records.

Listing a site or claiming a dump is covered by the membership terms you signed when you created the account. Extra listing or claim PDFs are not created.

10. Changes, law, and severability

We may update these terms. The version date appears at the top. The membership PDF you signed when you created the account stays on file. Prior signed copies remain in your PDF vault.

These terms are governed by the laws of Ontario, Canada, and the courts of Ontario have exclusive jurisdiction, except that a Released Party may seek injunctive relief anywhere.

If a court finds a part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still applies. A failure to enforce a part is not a waiver. These terms are the entire agreement between you and FreeWoodChips.ca about the matching board.

11. Contact

The official board is https://www.freewoodchips.ca. The operator of FreeWoodChips.ca can be reached at freewoodchips@gmail.com. Use that address for board questions, PDF records, and account help.

Do not email that address to schedule a dump. Timing, access, and tips are arranged between the resident and the crew only.