Recycling Transition

July 1, 2025 – December 31, 2025

Your curbside blue box recycling services will remain unchanged. Collection dates and acceptable materials will stay the same, but separate contractors will handle garbage and recycling collection starting July 1, 2025. Circular Materials has awarded the contract for Loyalist Township collection to Emterra Group.

• Emterra will provide curbside collection for recycling
• Emterra will handle new and replacement recycling receptacles at a location in Napanee
• Emterra will handle customer inquiries about missed recycling collection
• Waste Connections will continue to provide curbside collection for garbage.

January 1, 2026 – July 1, 2026

Curbside collection of Garbage and Recycling will continue to be provided by Waste Connections. Information on the Blue Box transition will be provided though municipally managed social media sites, our Loyalist Township garbage and recycling webpage, the Recycle Coach app, Engage Loyalist, and on an information pamphlet included with the Q1 Tax notice.

Starting January 1, 2026

Circular Materials will take full responsibility for recycling collection and management and may introduce some changes to the program.

After January 1, 2026

You will still have access to the app, Recycle Coach, where you will find information on scheduled collection days, service disruptions and acceptable recycling materials including any updates on acceptable recycling materials provided by Circular Materials. We will continue to manage all other notifications on the Recycle Coach app.

As of July 1, 2025, ICI businesses will no longer qualify for blue box recycling services provided by Circular Materials or Loyalist Township as per O. Reg. 391/21: BLUE BOX and Council Resolution 2024-127, "Blue Box Transition - Non-Eligible Sources,".

Letters have been sent to affected businesses with further details. If you believe you received this letter in error or have not received a letter, please contact Loyalist Township for clarification.

ICI businesses will continue to have access to recycling options, although they will be required to set up collection agreements with private contractors. Below is a list including some of the contracts offering collection services for ICI businesses:

• Waste Connections of Canada – Kingston
• Environmental 360 Solutions
• Emterra Group
• Waste Management

The collection and management of recycling for municipally owned and operated facilities will continue under a separate private contract.

A limited number of ICI businesses that received collection service prior to 2025, will continue to have garbage collection provided by Loyalist Township. We would like to remind qualifying ICI businesses that it is important to divert recycling materials from landfills. Co-mingled garbage and recycling will be refused at pickup. Repeat offenders may be asked to coordinate separate garbage collection contracts.

January 1, 2025 – July 1, 2025

Updated signage and a more comprehensive list of acceptable materials will be developed and installed. The focus will be on enhancing your experience and providing a functional site layout that works for you. We also plan to roll out a site plan to help you become more familiar with how your waste is being sorted. You'll have access to this from July 1, 2025.

July 1, 2025 – December 31, 2025

You may continue to drop off your recycling materials at the Amherst Island waste management facility. The list of accepted materials and the number of streams will remain the same. Updated signage and onsite guidance will be available. The Emterra Circular Materials contractor will manage different bins on-site effective July 1, 2025.

Starting January 1, 2026

Circular Materials will assume responsibility for the collection of bins onsite and the management of recycling materials offsite. Our staff will continue to manage operations onsite, including both garbage and recycling. Changes to the acceptable number and types of recycling material may be adopted by the program.

After January 1, 2026

You'll still have access to Recycle Coach where you'll find hours of operation, service disruptions, and acceptable recycling materials, including any updates on acceptable recycling materials provided by Circular Materials. We will continue to manage all other notifications on Recycle Coach.

• Your collection schedule won't change. Garbage and recycling will continue to be collected by your Zone. (Amherst Island residents should continue to drop off garbage and recycling at the Amherst Island waste management site, 145 Dump Road)
• Please continue to sort recycling materials for the appropriate collection day. Check Recycle Coach or the 2025 Township calendar for what goes where and when. 

• Acceptable Blue Box Materials remain the same. You can check acceptable materials on Page 14 of the 2025 Township calendar or at our recycling webpage.
• If garbage collection was offered to you in 2024, it will remain the same.
• For new developments, the Township will provide garbage collection for residential developments only.

• Blue box issues or concerns should be directed to Emterra.
• Starting July 1, 2025, (ICI )Industrial, Commercial or Institutional property owners, will be required to partner with their own collection contractor. Violet Landfill will not accept recycling contained in the garbage.
• Obtaining new blue boxes or exchanging broken blue boxes will be handled by Emterra.

July 1, 2025

Historically, Ontario’s blue box programs were operated by municipalities who were responsible for paying about half of the costs of the program, with producers responsible for the other half. Now, under the current version of the Blue Box Regulations, Ontario is transitioning to a new model where producers – the organizations that produce the products and packaging – are 100% responsible for operating and funding the program.

• During the transition period, Emterra will keep providing the same recycling services, including picking up the recycling bins that we previously provided to you. Other bins that are still okay to use are those brought into the Township from other areas, but cart-style bins won’t be accepted.
• After January 1, 2026, Emterra may choose to change the types of bins they collect. This will depend on the size and method they think works best. New or updated bins could include containers, carts, bags, or other types of bins for recycling. During the transition, you can continue to use the bins that you already have. Also, unless there’s an agreement with a producer or organization, the person who gets a recycling bin (like a resident) doesn’t actually own the blue box bins given under this rule.
• Circular Materials will share any updates about recycling changes to bins and programs using different methods, including Recycle Coach, which is an app that we currently offer for free to help keep you informed. (If you haven't downloaded it yet, please take advantage of the convenience it gives you. You can download from the various APP stores or via the links on our Recycling page)

• Emterra has told us that the facility for new or replacement blue boxes will be in Napanee, but we don't know where as yet.
• We haven't been given any details yet of Emterra's requirements for new or replacement bins, but we will let you know once we do.
• It has been confirmed that there will be no cost for new or replacement blue box bins.

Circular Materials and Loyalist Township will be using the same app platform, Recycle Coach, to provide updates and information on collection times, dates, materials, and any delays. We have an information-sharing agreement in place, so we will be able to provide seamless updates to you through an app that is already familiar and in use by many of you. (If you haven't downloaded it yet, please take advantage of the convenience it gives you. You can download from the various App stores or via the links on our Recycling page)

Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR, is recognized as one of the most effective mechanisms to improve recycling rates. It helps advance a circular economy where materials are collected, recycled, and returned to producers for use as recycled content in new products and packaging.

Regular Inspection and Audits will help us determine the composition of garbage and help us make more informed discussions.

Education Campaigns will help us keep you informed about options for diversion and recycling as they become available. Education will also reinforce the importance of proper waste management techniques.

Penalties for Non-Compliance may be included in a review of our current waste by-law for those who regularly fail to separate their recycling from waste.

Not exactly. While it may seem like the cost of recycling is being transferred to producers and removed from the consumer, there is still a cost to the Township.

Municipalities themselves are producers of recyclable materials and must pay fees to have these materials collected and managed under the Blue Box Regulation.

Examples of materials we produce include:

• Municipal Calendars
• Guides
• Construction and Utility notices
• Tax bills
• Recreation brochures and guides
• Other informative material that we provide to residents throughout the year

We pay fees to the RPRA  for reporting this material and Fees to a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) for the collection and management of these materials. 

Additionally, we are still responsible for managing a separate contract for the collection of our recycling material at Township owned and operated facilities as we fall under the (ICI) Industrial, Commercial or Institutional property owners Non-eligible sources for recycling collection. Without subsidization from Stewardship fees, we rely on tax revenue to pay for these costs.

While the Township is required to pay fees for the materials we produce and provide to our community, there is always room for improvement and even some cost savings along the way.

By moving more of our communications to a digital platform and offering more resources online, Loyalist can shift from a paper-based model to a more efficient digital platform, providing quick and easy access to information such as calendars, guides, notices, and tax statements.

That said, we won't do away with paper entirely. In accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, we will continue to provide copies of many Township documents in paper format to ensure everyone has equal access to information.

Ontario is moving from a linear economy to a circular economy. In a linear economy, natural resources are extracted, manufactured into products, consumed and then thrown away. In a circular economy, products and packaging are designed to minimize waste and then be recovered, reused, recycled and reintegrated back into production. Some great articles about this approach can be found on the RPRA website. 

The Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR, model shifts responsibility for the collection, processing, and recycling of blue box materials to the producers – the companies that supply these materials to you.

This change is part of Ontario’s new Blue Box Regulation, passed in 2021, which takes effect over a transition period between 2023 and 2026.

Loyalist Township has been directed to adopt this model by July 1, 2025.

A Producer Responsibility Organization, or PRO, is a business established to contract with producers to help them meet their regulatory obligations under the Blue Box Regulation.

The RPRA, or Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority, is the regulator mandated by the Government of Ontario to enforce the province's circular economy laws.