What You Can't Recycle

The blue bag recycling program has been successful since the start. Participation rates are some of the highest in the country and the amount of recyclables collected have been increasing each year. In fact, residents are so eager to recycle they’ve been putting items into the blue bags they shouldn’t.

“Each spring, many people wonder what they can do with the black plant pots they get at the nurseries,” reports Carol Suhan, Waste Reduction Coordinator. “Some people have been putting the pots in their blue bags for recycling. Unfortunately, these pots CANNOT be put into the blue bags as they are considered garbage by the recycling processing plant. Large one-gallon and larger plastic pots can be returned to the nursery for reuse and smaller containers can be brought to the recycling depots for recycling or put in with the garbage.”

Suhan also says that some residents have also had questions about large cardboard boxes. The blue bag program wasn’t set up to collect large cardboard boxes so large boxes must be flattened and tied in bundles for collection (no larger than one meter by one metre (3’X3’)). Large cardboard boxes can also be brought to a recycling depot for recycling.

There are four recycling depots in the area. They are located at 1988 Kirschner Road, 144 Cambro Road and at the Westside and Glenmore Landfills.

The blue bag recycling program collects unlimited quantities of paper, newspaper, glass jars, tin cans, aluminum products like foil and food containers, books and magazines, boxboard like cereal boxes, cardboard and #2 cloudy-coloured plastic containers like milk jugs. Simply place all your clean recyclables in see-thru blue or clear bags – no sorting required – and place at the curb by 7 a.m. on your collection day.

For more information about what can or cannot be put into your blue bag recycling, please check the Regional District’s website www.regionaldistrict.com or call the Regional Waste Reduction Office at 868-5250.