Changes will be coming to the way recycling is collected in the Municipality of Kincardine.
In 2021, the province passed Ontario Regulation 391/21, which outlined acceptable types of recyclables, and more importantly, the difference between eligible and non-eligible sources.
As of January 1st, 2026, municipalities are being directed to stop collecting recyclable materials from non-eligible sources, and direct such sources to be responsible for their own recycling.
Non-eligible sources are commercial, industrial, and institutional properties.
Manger of Environmental Services Mark O’Leary said that such properties would then be responsible for their own recycling, adding that each will be able to decide how they want it taken care of – either through having their own bin that is handled by a contractor, or taking their recyclables to the Waste Management Centre in Armow.
“I think when you think about things like your downtown core, the problem is the space, how many bins do you need, rodents or animals or things like that,” O’Leary said. “We envision that we will have to charge for recycling at the waste management centre, so those are some options that we would have for non-eligible would be because the municipality would then become a producer, and we would have to procure trucking to get that removed to different sorting facilities as well, so whether a non-eligible source puts a bin in the back of their business and looks after it themselves or we look after it, there’s going to be a cost associated with that for those people we just feel that this might be a good option and spearhead a little further on that.”
He also pointed out that the municipality is home to 500 such properties, but it also includes most municipally-owned facilities.
“We’re non-eligible. Almost all of our facilities are non-eligible so we are going to be looking at these types of services for our own buildings as well.”
While some members of council were hoping to take a “wait and see” approach to find out what could be done once the changes take effect next January, Councillor Jennifer Prenger, who is a member of the board for Bruce Area Solid Waste Recycling (BASWR), explained, “This is a mandated thing. Our transition date, the date we have to start doing this because it’s required by the provincial government to start doing this, is January 1st, 2026. We have known about his for years, BASWR has known about it for years. There has been watching what other municipalities are doing and that’s been taken into consideration and in terms of what BASWR staff is considering and how they might propose to address this. But we’re running out of time. We don’t have a choice. This is going to start on January 1st whether we like it or not. And so we have to come up with a solution. There’s no other option. We’re out of time for waiting and seeing.”
Council passed a motion to initiate the process to move towards a new program that would allow for ineligible properties to drop off recycling by expanding services at the Waste Management Centre in Armow.
Municipal staff are recommending Council consider the options to help inform budget, work plans, and communication strategies in order to initiate a path forward.
