Transition to private blue box has been bumpy in at least one northern Ontario city

This past week, the mayor of Timmins watched a recycling truck drive by her house and not pick up her bins.

It’s one example of a bumpy blue box transition in the northern Ontario city, one of the latest in the province to hand over responsibility for recycling to the private sector.

It’s part of a provincial regulation to make the manufacturers of plastic, paper and other products cover the costs of recycling, taking the financial burden off of municipalities.

In Timmins, where the city had only been handling the recycling for the past 12 years, the change happened on Jan. 1, with a private contractor now collecting blue boxes.

“We had a problem on day one,” said Ken Krcel, the director of public works and environmental services in Timmins.

“It is a learning curve… We are hoping they become more efficient and there are less complaints.”

Krcel said they’ve had over 40 complaints in the first few weeks, as the collection schedule they provided to the contractor and to Circular Materials Ontario— the agency overseeing the switch— was not always followed.

He says the new contractor has also decided not to operate recycling depots in rural areas of Timmins and so the city is keeping them running, at least for this next “transition year.”

Overall, Krcel says not running the recycling program should save the city between $250,000 and $300,000 per year, but he expects most of that will be swallowed up by the increasing costs of operating a landfill. 

“It’s not our job any more. It’s a big change,” he said. 

“Cities are not usually used to uploading. Most of the time, we get downloaded, so it is different.”

Sault Ste. Marie made the switch in September 2023, but it was simply of matter of changing who is paying the long-time  contractor GFL, who continues to collect recycling in the city.

Greater Sudbury is scheduled to begin the transition on April 1 and it is coming to North Bay on Jan. 1, 2026.

North Bay city Coun. Mac Bain, who served on a provincial committee planning over this change, says the hope is that this will force the private sector to create “a true circular economy.”

“What we’re hoping is they produce products that can be recycled, as opposed to products we have to throw in the garbage,” he said. 

“They’ll find ways to market and recycle their product.”

This week, Bain tabled a motion that was passed at North Bay city council, calling on the Ontario government to expand this transition so that the packaging manufacturers also cover the costs of recycling at businesses, schools and other public institutions.

He says sometimes those organizations pay for their own recycling programs, but often times, the bottles, cans and cardboard at those locations go into the garbage and end up in the municipal dump. 

“They don’t want to see it end up in the landfill. They don’t all of a sudden just turn off the left side of their brain at work and not want to recycle,” said Bain, saying his hope is to just “start the conversation” with the provincial government.

Morning North14:21Long-awaited recycling switch is coming to northern Ontario

There is a big change coming to the recycling bins of Ontario. The companies that make the plastic and paper things you throw out will be taking over from cities and towns… but it isn’t going so smoothly in at least one northern city.