Recycling Collection

For updates on curbside collection interruptions or cancellations, please go to our eNews page.

Curbside Collection

Cart Collection for Apartment Buildings and Schools

Curbside Collection

All households in the County receive weekly blue box and green bin collection, while garbage is collected every other week. Please use the table below to determine your collection day, and to see if you follow the Week A or the Week B schedule for your bi-weekly garbage collection.

2023 Curbside Collection Schedule:

2023 Curbside Collection Schedule (Week A)2023 Curbside Collection Schedule (Week B)

An alternate collection day is provided if your regular collection day falls on a statutory holiday.

Prepare materials

• rinse containers to remove food or liquids
• remove plastic straws and place in garbage
• leave lids and caps on containers
• place the top of a tin can inside the can to prevent cuts to the sorters
• do not place any sharp objects with your recyclables (e.g. broken glass, knives, needles etc.) as this is a serious health and safety risk to collectors and sorters
• do not place materials in plastic bags (except for shredded paper)

Separate materials - containers in one blue box, paper in another blue box

• visit the Blue Box Materials page for acceptable materials and how to sort them
• please do not use plastic bags to separate materials - they are not recyclable in the County's programme and contaminate the load

Corrugated Cardboard

• corrugated cardboard has a wavy layer between two smooth layers of linerboard
• place small amounts of flattened cardboard with other Paper Products in the blue box
• bundle larger quantities with string or tape and place beside your blue box - maximum bundle size is 30 by 60 by 60 cm (one by two by two feet)
• cardboard sheets may also be stuffed into an unflattened cardboard box that does not exceed the maximum bundle size
• maximum of three cardboard bundles per week, per address
• heaped or loose piles will not be collected

Shredded Paper

• shred confidential documents and accumulate until you can fill a large clear bag
• place the tied clear bag beside your blue box (to reduce litter)

Have your blue boxes out by 7:00 am

• unexpected changes to truck routing happen routinely (e.g. bad weather, road closures, accidents, truck breakdowns, and waiting times at waste facilities)
• collectors are not responsible for returning to collect materials that were placed out after 7:00 am
• if you miss your collection, please store your materials until your next collection day or take them to any County waste facility at no charge

 Listen to our radio ad here - 7:00 am reminder.

Placement of blue boxes

• place blue boxes in a visible location
• do not place blue boxes in ditches, on snow piles, or on the travelled part of the road or sidewalk

• place blue boxes at the end of your driveway or laneway, and within one metre (three feet) of the curb or roadside

Municipal style blue boxes 

• for Health and Safety reasons as well as efficiency of route management, no substitute containers will be collected (i.e. no laundry baskets, cardboard boxes, etc.)

• each household may have two blue boxes at no charge

  • extra blue boxes may be obtained from our waste facilities at $10 each
  • businesses on collection routes can obtain blue boxes from our waste facilities at $10 each
  • six blue boxes maximum will be collected
• write your address on the box so it can be returned on a windy day
• rinse out the box periodically to keep hornets away

Have a broken blue box?

Take your broken blue box to any County waste facility to be exchanged for a new one for free. The broken blue box will be recycled.

Uncollected materials

• Collection crews place stickers on uncollected blue boxes to explain the main reasons for materials being left behind. If you are still unclear why your materials were left behind, please contact SWS.
• If materials were placed out after 7:00 am, you may have missed your collection. Collectors will not return to pick up materials placed out after 7:00 am.

Not sure what to do with an unwanted item?

Use the Recycle Coach waste app to look up how to properly dispose of certain items.

Cart Collection for Apartment Buildings and Schools

The same basic recycling collection rules apply to apartment buildings and schools. By-law 5670-20 sets out the requirements for curbside collection.

Resident Information

If you have blue box recycling available to you in your building, every resident should receive an in-unit recycling bag, provided by SWS. The bag is divided so that you may sort your clean containers into one side, and boxboard and paper into the other. You can easily carry the bag by its handles to the recycling area of your building. The bag can be wiped out periodically to keep it clean. Magnets are also available with sorting instructions.

Visit the Blue Box Materials page for acceptable materials and how to sort them properly.

Prepare materials

• rinse containers to remove food or liquids
• remove plastic straws and place in garbage
• leave lids and caps on containers and place in carts
• place the top of a tin can inside the can to prevent cuts to the sorters
• do not place any sharp objects with your recyclables (e.g. broken glass, knives, needles etc.) as this is a serious health and safety risk to collectors and sorters
• do not place materials in plastic bags (except for shredded paper)

Superintendent Information

The Solid Waste Services (SWS) Division is working with other municipalities in Ontario to increase recycling opportunities in apartment buildings. In the summer of 2011, SWS visited every apartment building in Wellington County and documented what blue box recycling was in place. In the summer of 2012, staff worked with building owners and managers to start or to improve blue box recycling in all buildings of 7 units or more.

Every building owner or manager was contacted by letter in April 2012. The letter explained how apartment buildings can improve their blue box recycling. If you have seven units or more in your building and did not receive a letter, please contact SWS.

Buildings purchase carts and are responsible for taking them to the curb by 7:00 am for collection. SWS provides signs and posters for your recycling area, as well as in-unit bags and magnets for residents.

School Custodian Information

For information on collection, carts, placement, signs etc., please contact SWS.