Beginning January 1, 2026, the City will no longer be responsible for collecting your recycling. As required by provincial regulation (O. Reg. 391/21 – Blue Box), producers of blue box materials are fully financially and operationally responsible for providing recycling services to residential locations, schools, long-term care facilities and retirement homes.
The City will still be responsible for collecting and managing recycling from commercial locations; City Divisions and Agencies; Charities, Institutions and Religious Organizations.
Starting in May 2025, a sticker will be applied to Blue Bin(s) at all residential locations with information about the recycling system administrator, Circular Materials, including a new contact for recycling inquiries, such as missed collection or bin repair, starting on January 1, 2026.
Until December 31, 2025, there are no changes to your current recycling routine. For any recycling collection services, such as missed collection or bin repair, please continue to contact 311 in 2025.
Residents will receive information in the mail approximately two weeks prior to Blue Bins being stickered in their area. The dates listed in the table below are approximate.
Please leave your Blue Bin(s) at the curb, or your regular collection location, until 7 p.m. on your regularly scheduled Blue Bin (recycling) collection day to allow for bin stickering. Please repeat this process until your bin(s) have been stickered.
| District | Area | Stickering Start Date |
|---|---|---|
| District 4 | Between Steeles Ave. to the north and Lake Ontario to the south; Victoria Park to the west and Pickering town line to the east | May 20, 2025
Stickering in this area will take approximately 4 – 6 weeks |
| District 3 | Between Steeles Ave. to the north and Lake Ontario to the south; Yonge St. to the west and Victoria Park to the east. | July 2025 |
| District 2 | Between Steeles Ave. W. to the north and Lake Ontario to the south; Humber River to the west and Yonge St. to the east. | August 2025 |
| District 1 | Between Steeles Ave. W. to the north and Lake Ontario to the south; west of the Humber river. | September 2025 |
In 2021, the Province of Ontario finalized the regulation 
to transition Ontario’s Blue Box Program to full Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Toronto’s Blue Bin recycling program transitioned to EPR as of July 1, 2023.
EPR makes producers fully accountable for the management of paper products, packaging and packaging-like products that they put into the Ontario marketplace and shifts the operational and financial responsibilities of recycling away from municipalities.
The City has an agreement with Circular Materials (the administrator of Ontario’s common collection system) to continue to provide recycling services to the residents of Toronto until December 31, 2025.
Starting on January 1, 2026, the City will no longer be responsible for providing blue box recycling collection services to residential locations, schools, long-term care facilities and retirement homes. Beginning in January 2026, Circular Materials, the new recycling service provider, will be responsible for recycling collection and related services, including missed collection and bin repairs.
The benefits of EPR include:
Effective July 3, 2024, Toronto residents, schools and long-term care facilities can place single-use hot (e.g. coffee and tea) and cold (e.g. fountain drinks) paper-based beverage cups in the Blue Bin (recycling).
Toronto was chosen to be the first to implement the change ahead of adding these items to all municipal recycling programs in Ontario in 2026. The inclusion of new items is based on the producers’ collective investments into material processing facilities and working towards standardizing the Blue Box Program across Ontario.
To reduce confusion and ensure harmonized materials City-wide, hot and cold paper beverage cups are to be placed in Blue Bins (recycling) at City-serviced commercial locations, facilities and buildings, charities, institutions and religious organizations, parks and in the recycling compartment of street litter bins.
Visit Circular Materials to learn more about the beverage cup pilot in Toronto, including what types of cups are included and how to properly prepare these items for recycling.