Residents getting a heads-up on coming blue box changes
Durham Region has announced a transition in the Blue Box recycling program, beginning July 1, 2024. The program is being taken over by an organization called “Circular Materials”. The Region notes that though the Blue Box program is changing, “there will be no immediate change to how residents recycle during the transition period.”
“The provincially regulated transition of the Blue Box program from municipalities to producers is planned to be seamless, and residents should not notice a change in service,” says the Region in a press release. “There will be no changes to the list of materials collected in the blue box or the blue box collection schedule from July 1, 2024, until completion of the transition to the new Ontario-wide collection system on December 31, 2025. Durham’s recycling program will also continue to use two separate blue boxes for papers and containers.”
The Region also notes that after the full transition, on January 1, 2026, the public may see changes to the Blue Box program implemented by the producers.
According to their website, Circular Materials is a “national not-for-profit producer responsibility organization that represents the evolution to a more circular economy where materials are collected, recycled and returned to producers for use as recycled content in new products and packaging.”
Ontario’s current Blue Box program is currently operated by municipalities, who are responsible for paying about half of the costs of the program, with producers responsible for the other half. Circular Materials’ new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) model makes the producers fully responsible for operating and funding the program.
Circular Materials claims their EPR model is the first of its kind across the world. They say they are committed to using technology to better the recycling system, by leveraging innovations such as AI-enabled cameras and optical sorters equipped with advanced sensors, which they say will “offer unparalleled precision and improved efficiency while simultaneously reducing contamination levels.”
Circular Materials was founded by 17 Canadian food, beverage and consumer products manufacturers, restaurants and retailers, including brands like McDonald’s, Costco, Maple Leaf and Coca Cola. The new EPR process is being piloted this year and Circular Materials notes that it has been made possible “through extensive collaborative partnerships across the supply chain.”
With the goal of both standardizing and expanding what can be recycled, while also providing recycling to more communities across Ontario, the province created the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act in 2016 to “hold persons who are most responsible for the design of products and packaging responsible for the products and packaging at the end of life.” It also created the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority to oversee and enforce the performance of the new Blue Box Program.
Circular Materials says it “is looking forward to providing residents of Durham region with a smooth transition of recycling services as of July 1, 2024.”
“As a national non-profit organization, we are dedicated to leading by example, driving positive change, and making a lasting difference in communities across the country,” says Ramesh Jagannathan, acting commissioner of works. “This transition in Durham Region marks another milestone in our journey, and we are excited to deliver a recycling program that meets the needs of residents and drives innovation and convenience.”
The Durham Regional transition, beginning on July 1, 2024, will also mark the one-year milestone since Circular Materials kick-started the Ontario transition to EPR for packaging and paper material.
Conrad Boyce, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Uxbridge Cosmos
