The City of Sarnia is seeking public feedback amid upcoming changes to Ontario's recycling collection for industrial, commercial, and institutional (ICI) properties.
Starting in 2026, Circular Materials Ontario (CMO) will no longer offer the collection of recycling to existing ICI customers along its residential routes.
The city was responsible for this up until 2023.
At that time, the province transitioned residential recycling to CMO, and the city had been paying the contractor to continue servicing ICI sites.
Sarnia General Manager of Engineering and Operations David Jackson said if they want to continue offering the service, standalone truck routes would need to be deployed.
It could cost upwards of $280,000 annually for the 200 properties currently collected, a big increase from the now $60,000 to $90,000 price tag.
He said there are an estimated 1,300 ICI properties in Sarnia.
"We want to know whether we should continue what we're doing, should we stop doing it to save money, or is there some interest in expanding it to all commercial properties and debating the cost of that?," said Jackson. "If the city didn't collect it, we would stop our service and it would be up to each individual private business to choose whether they find their own contractor or some might choose to stop recycling and just put materials in the garbage."
You can provide open-ended input through an online survey.
It will remain open until October 29, 2025 at 4:30 p.m., and can be filled out on the Speak Up Sarnia website.
