South Frontenac Recycling Changes for July 1

Starting Tuesday, July 1, 2025, the Township, and many other communities across Ontario, will no longer be responsible for providing recycling services for residential properties. The Ontario government is transitioning to an extended producer responsibility model which holds producers responsible for the products they produce under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016 (O. Reg 391/21).

The new recycling program will be managed by Circular Materials; a national not-for-profit organization committed to building an efficient and effective recycling system in Ontario. Beginning July 1, this transition will include changes to the collection schedule and materials collected. Emterra Group will be the new service provider for this area.

The new collection calendar and collection map for July 1 - December 31, 2025 can be found via Circular Materials website. 

Monday, June 30, 2025 will be the last day recycling will be collected by the Township with the current material and collection schedule. Please note: garbage collection will still be provided by the Township Public Works Department following the existing collection schedule.

Please be advised, under this new program, Emterra will perform recycle collection on all statutory holidays, including Canada Day (Tuesday July 1). The Township will not perform garbage collection on statutory holidays, including, July 1. Garbage collection date will be pushed to the next day following the Stat holiday collection calendar.

Changes to Materials Collected

The items you can place in your blue and yellow bin weeks will be altered as of July 1, 2025. Here is what you can place in each box:

Blue Week:

The blue week collects clean/rinsed metal, plastic and glass containers, as well as rigid plastic packaging for recycling.

What can I put out for blue week?
•    Metal food and beverage cans
•    Pop cans, pie plates and clean aluminum foil
•    Polycoat cartons (milk, juice, soup, broth, etc)
•    Clear and coloured glass bottles and jars
•    Plastic bottles
•    Plastic jars, tubs and lids (such as yogurt, sour cream, or cottage cheese containers)
•    Paper cans with steel lids (eg. potato chip cans)
•    Styrofoam (white only)

Please do not put the following waste out for blue week:
•    Grocery bags and stretchy plastic film (goes in the yellow week)
•    Flatware, window glass and mirrors
•    Coloured (blue, pink, black, etc.) styrofoam
•    Plastic containers larger than 10L
•    Styrofoam peanuts
•    Plastic toys
•    Lawn furniture and other oversized plastics
•    Crinkly plastic film, pet food bags and bubble wrap.
•    Broken glass (goes in the garbage in a cardboard box, taped shut and labeled)

Yellow week:

The yellow week is used to collect paper products, cardboard and plastic bags. Put all the plastic bags into one plastic bag and tie it. 

What can I put out for yellow week?
•    Plastic bags and stretchy plastic film (placed in a tied plastic bag)
•    Newspaper, flyers, junk mail, magazines, office paper (all colours), envelopes
•    Shredded paper (in a clear tied bag max 90cm x 60cm x 20cm)
•    Coffee cups (the plastic lids go in the blue box)
•    Corrugated cardboard (must be bundled, max 90cm x 60cm x 20cm)

Please do not put the following waste out for yellow week:
•    Crinkly plastic film, pet-food bags and bubble wrap
•    Greasy pizza boxes
•    Meat packaging
•    Gift wrap
•    Cereal/cracker liners
•    Zipper-style plastic bags

Collection for New Homes Built After July 1:
Once your Final Inspection and Occupancy Permit have been issued the new address will be sent to Circular Materials to begin collection. Please note that this may take up to six weeks.

Contact Information:

The Township will have no control over recycling collection after July 1, 2025. If your recycling was missed, you have a damaged box or you have questions about collection, please contact Emterra at:
•    Phone: 1-888-597-1541 
•    Email: customercareont@emterra.ca
•    Website: CircularMaterials.ca/southfrontenac