Frequently asked questions

Residential Blue Box collection is arranged by the Blue Box system administrator, Circular Materials. For questions specific to your Blue Box collection service, visit their website or contact them at [email protected] or 1-877-667-2626.

Under the producer-⁠run system, residences – buildings with five or less residential units – are eligible for collection.

Building developments with five or less units are considered residences and will also receive service from the producer-⁠run system.

Townhouses, stacked townhouses or row houses with six or more units may also be considered residences if one of the following applies:

• each unit receives curbside garbage collection, or
• the building uses a common collection point where residents drop off their waste and from which the local government collects garbage.

Townhouses, stacked townhouses or row houses with six or more units that do not meet the criteria above are not eligible to receive Blue Box collection from the producer-⁠run program until 2031, as these types of buildings are considered facilities.

Under the Blue Box Regulation, a building is a “facility” if it is one of the following:

• A multi-⁠residential building with six (6) or more dwelling units
• A public or private school
• An Elders’ lodge
• A not-⁠for-⁠profit retirement home
• A not-⁠for-⁠profit long-⁠term home

To be considered an “eligible facility” – a facility that is eligible to receive Blue Box collection services under the Blue Box Regulation – one of the following must apply:

• The facility is located within a community* that has or will join the common collection system and was previously serviced under the legacy Blue Box program (e.g., received depot or curbside collection from the municipality, local service board or First Nation before it joined the common collection system). This facility is eligible to receive collection service on its host community’s transition date.

or

• The facility was not previously serviced under the legacy Blue Box program but is planning to register for collection under the new Blue Box system. Facilities in this category will be eligible to receive Blue Box collection services under the producer run program starting January 1, 2031.

Note: A “community” refers to a municipality, local service board or First Nation.

Residential Blue Box collection is arranged by the Blue Box system administrator, Circular Materials. For your receptacle accessibility needs, please contact Circular Materials at [email protected] or 1-877-667-2626, or complete the Special Accommodation Recycling Service Application form available on their website. 

Yes, residents of multi-⁠residential building who used their community depot to drop off Blue Box material because their facility did not have private Blue Box collection, can still rely on the existing community depot to drop off Blue Box material.

Community depots operated by businesses must be free of charge.

Local budgets are determined independently by local governments. Please contact your city council (or equivalent) for questions about local taxes and/or budgets.

In 2026, Ontario’s Blue Box Program completed its three-⁠year transition to the new extended producer responsibility (EPR) system, where the businesses that produce Blue Box materials are responsible for recycling them. This multi-⁠year transition allowed municipalities to shift to the new system in phases.

These businesses are required to start reporting to RPRA the weight of Blue Box materials they recycle each year in 2027, following the multi-⁠year transition period. This data will be added to Ontario Recycles at that time.

RPRA has made supply and collection data available on Ontario Recycles as that has been reported on throughout the transition period.

To learn more about the program’s shift to EPR, see our Blue Box materials webpage.