Recycling Transformation Underway In Central Frontenac

Jeff Green | Jan 16, 2025

It has been about a decade since the Province of Ontario decided to change the way recycling in Ontario is collected and funded.
The intention was to create a recycling system that is financed and operated by the companies that produce the plastics, glass, metal, tetra-packs, cardboard and other materials that can be diverted from the waste stream.
This will leave Ontario municipalities with only the core responsibility to maintain a system for the disposal of the household and commercial waste stream created by local residences and businesses.
The process of creating a new system has been slow, and even now that it is mandated to get underway, it will take at least another year before the new producer led system is fully in place.
In Frontenac County, North Frontenac made its own transition in 2023, in anticipation of the new system coming into effect. The two-stream system that was adopted at that time, is the same one that every Ontario municipality will adopt this year. North Frontenac will be formally turning over its system on July 1st, as will South Frontenac.
At that time all costs and processes for recycling will be covered by a consortium of producers. Municipal taxation will no longer be used to fund any shortfall between the cost of collecting and transporting recyclable materials, and the sale price for materials on the open market.
Central Frontenac has already made the change. As of January 1st, this year, Central Frontenac Township transferred responsibility for recycling to the new system.
At the waste sites in the township, new recycling bins have been installed and are now in use.
For residents, trips to the waste site no longer entail several climbs up stairwells to the metal/plastic, glass, cardboard, paper, and flat styro-foam receptacles. The new containers for recycling are located at ground level at the waste sites, and there are only two streams. (see graphic)
The largest stream is the container stream. It includes glass, plastic, tin, the bulk of the blue box stream. The fibre stream includes paper and cardboard, and tetra packs.
South Frontenac will be introducing its new system on July 1st, and because the township’s waste system is based on home pickup, the new recycling system will roll out in a different manner than it has in Central Frontenac. The township is meeting with representatives from the new hauling company in the coming weeks to see if the current system, whereby both waste and recycling are collected on the same day, will be able to be maintained, If the recycling and waste pickup days are de-coupled, leaving residents to put out garbage on one day, and recycling on another.
Bonnie Robinson, who has been involved in administering the system in South Frontenac through a number of changes over the years, said that it would be ideal if the pickup days for recycling remain coupled with the waste pickup days that the township remains responsible for.
"It is convenient for residents to put everything out on the same day, and we will be meeting soon with the company that is taking over. We will update the public when we know if the pickup day will change or stay the same," she said.
Robinson added that the type of materials that will be collected will not be changing on July 1st
"They are bound to collect the same materials until at least the beginning of 2026. We will see what happens after that."