Wellington County is reminding residents that the municipal blue box program is changing this year.
The new setup will replace the current program, changing from municipal responsibility to a full-producer responsibility system. In Wellington County, the transition will begin on July 1, 2025, and will be in full effect by January 1, 2026.
The change was mandated by the Government of Ontario four years ago with new regulations that make producers fully accountable and financially responsible for their products and packaging and sets mandatory and enforceable requirements for the Blue Box collection systems.
This new system is meant to promote waste diversion, align costs of managing products and packaging to save taxpayers money and give producers incentive to redesign products and make them easier to recycle.
In order to support local businesses, Wellington County Council adopted a motion to continue providing curb side recycling collection for businesses and institutions in 14 identified downtown areas across the County.
Businesses in and outside of the identified downtown areas may opt to register for a fee exemption card for blue box recyclables at County waste facilities. To register for recycling support businesses can visit www.wellington.ca/bbtransition.
"The Government of Ontario’s Blue Box transition is planned to be seamless," said Steve O’Neill, Chair of the Solid Waste Services Committee. "Although the responsibility for the blue box programme is changing, there will be no immediate change to how residents recycle during the initial transition period."
"Under the current model, Ontario’s Blue Box Programme was operated by municipalities who were responsible for paying about half of the cost of the programme, and producers were responsible for the remaining half," commented Das Soligo, Manager of Solid Waste Services. "Under the new Blue Box Regulation, producers will now be responsible for fully funding and operating the residential programme."
