Not long after Waterloo Region went through substantial changes to its garbage and waste collection, some larger changes could be on the way for its blue bin program as well.
It comes as provincial legislation is set to take the responsibility of managing recycling programs away from municipalities across Ontario, putting it solely into the hands of recycling product producers.
Due to that legislation, the region’s contract with Circular Materials, the company that has worked with the community to manage its blue bin program, is set to expire as of Dec. 31.
While the municipality has not directly collected recycling through its blue bin program since the spring of 2024, the new changes would mean the region has no direct hand in how the program is managed or potentially changed.
It has left plenty of questions in the air as to what the future of regional recycling could look like.
“Because of Circular (Materials) taking over, there could be collection frequency changes to collection days, collection containers, all of this stuff that is out of our hands,” said regional Councillor Colleen James. “How this is communicated to the public will be critical.”
The matter was discussed during a recent Region of Waterloo council meeting, with many councillors sharing concerns about the looming changes.
They stated that very little has been provided up to this point in terms of what exactly could be changing, and if they’re confused by what’s happening, local communities across the region must be feeling similarly.
“This is a bit of a disaster in many, many respects for the average person trying to sort out what’s going on and why it’s beneficial to go to a new methodology. That’s my concern,” said regional Councillor Doug Craig.
He stated that there needs to be clarity on what will be happening before the deadline arrives at the end of the year. While others say it’s the region’s responsibility to make sure the transition is as smooth and well-communicated as possible.
“This is rather alarming, and frankly, I fear this is headed in the direction of the end of recycling in Ontario,” stated regional Councillor Natasha Salonen. “That is no reflection on our staff; I’m more so talking about the broader changes that have been made provincially.”
Unfortunately, there’s not much in the way of answers as of right now that can be given on the issue.
The change comes not long after the region decided to shift to large cart collection for its waste management, including garbage and composting, rolling out in March 2026. However, that was a change that didn’t impact recycling, as the region had not been directly responsible for blue bin collection efforts since 2024.
With all the confusion, council is now looking to bring in a representative with Circular Materials to bring some further clarity to the issue of the region’s blue bin program.
That’s expected to happen at a future Region of Waterloo council meeting.
