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Norfolk County is reminding non-eligible property owners that curbside recycling collection officially ended on January 1st, in alignment with Ontario\u2019s producer-led Blue Box program.<\/p>\n
The change affects properties including Business Improvement Areas (BIAs), campgrounds or trailer parks without permanent residents, churches, daycares, small businesses, commercial farms without residences, and other institutional or industrial properties.<\/p>\n
Merissa Bokla, Supervisor of Waste Management, explained that this shift has been in the works for several years.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/media-cdn.socastsrm.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/776\/files\/2026\/01\/recycling-the-background.mp3<\/a><\/p>\n Things began to shift in 2021, when the provincial government changed the blue box regulation to being a producer-led initiative, where the producers then were paying 100% of the program fees for the collection and the processing of recycling.<\/p>\n In that legislation, it stated that they only had to collect from residential sources.<\/p>\n Bokla said the county considered continuing IC&I (industrial, commercial, and institutional) collections, but hit a roadblock when they confirmed they could not pick up from businesses on a regular route as they could not mix residential and IC&I collections in one truck.<\/p>\n https:\/\/media-cdn.socastsrm.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/776\/files\/2026\/01\/recycling-how-to-move-forward.mp3<\/a><\/p>\n Staff estimated that it would cost around $400,000 to $450,000 per year to collect and process recycling from these non-eligible properties.<\/p>\n Council ultimately voted not to continue with IC&I collections because of this.<\/p>\n For those affected, there are alternative options.<\/p>\n