Residents in the Kawarthas region can put more materials in their blue box — including coffee cups, black plastic containers, chip bags, and toothpaste tubes — starting January 1, 2026, when Ontario’s three-year transition to producer responsibility for packaging and paper products will be complete.
In June 2021, the Ontario government released its blue box regulation that shifted the financial and operational responsibility of recycling to the producers of packaging and paper products, known as the extended producer responsibility (EPR) model. The three-year transition to the new system began on July 1, 2023, with communities joining the new program over time.
In Ontario, Circular Materials operates as an EPR organization and is also the administrator of the common collection system on behalf of all other producer responsibility organizations operating in Ontario. The national not-for-profit organization was founded by 17 of Canada’s leading brands, including Nestlé, Kraft Heinz, Maple Leaf, Coca-Cola Canada, MacDonald’s, Costco, Metro, and Loblaw Companies.
According to Circular Materials, 383 communities and 12 First Nations in Ontario will be fully transitioned to the EPR system as of January 1, 2026, and are collectively saving over $200 million in costs under the new system.
With the shift to producer responsibility complete in the new year, residents will be able to recycle the same materials no matter where they are in the province. Currently, materials collected for recycling vary by community. On January 1, 2026, a new province-wide EPR material list will apply in every community in Ontario for the first time ever.
The new list also expands the items that can be recycled to include hot and cold beverage cups (coffee cups), black plastic containers, frozen juice containers, ice cream tubs, toothpaste tubes, deodorant, foam packaging (including meat trays, takeout containers, cups, plates, bowls, and foam packaging for products), and flexible packaging (including chip bags, pet food bags, bubble wrap, snack wrappers, cereal box liners, deli pouches, and plastic gift bags).
However, alcoholic beverage containers — including beer, wine, and liquor glass or plastic bottles and aluminum cans — will no longer be collected in recycling. Instead, under Ontario’s Ontario Deposit Return Program (also called the “Bag It Back” program), residents can return alcoholic beverage containers to The Beer Store or grocery stores that sell alcoholic products for a deposit refund (10 cents for smaller containers and 20 cents for larger containers).
In the Kawarthas region, Emterra Environmental is Circular Materials’s local contractor and began managing recycling collection and processing for the City of Peterborough and Peterborough County on January 1, 2024.
Starting in the new year, Emterra Environmental will also be responsible for recycling in the City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County, and Hastings Highlands. There will be no change to existing curbside collection schedules when Emterra Environmental assumes responsibility for recycling collection.
Information about recycling in specific Ontario communities, including local collection schedules and service updates, is available at www.circularmaterials.ca/resident-provinces/ontario/. A Circular Materials app is also available for download at www.circularmaterials.ca/app/.
