Regina recycling changes mean coffee cups can go in blue bins, glass can’t

You may want to take a second look before taking the recycling to the road this week, as the City of Regina is making changes when it comes to its curbside recycling program.

Thanks to a new joint partnership, the city is shifting its recycling responsibilities to SK Recycles, a not-for-profit organization responsible for management and recycling in Saskatchewan.

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The move will enhance the city’s recycling system while also aiming to reduce the cost for residents, who will see some changes to what they can put in their recycling bins.

Starting on July 1, items such as coffee cups, ice cream cartons, frozen dessert boxes, plastic dental floss containers, plastic tape dispensers, and empty single-use coffee pods will all be recyclable.

But the program will also now be banning items such as glass containers and jars, foam packaging, and flexible plastics such as chip bags, plastic wrap, and frozen vegetable bags, as well as green Nespresso pod recycling bags.

SARCAN depots will accept glass, flexible plastics (plastic bags, wrap, bread bags, frozen food bags, chip bags), and foam packaging.

Janet Aird is the manager of program and delivery with the City of Regina and said that the changes were made for two reasons.

“The City of Regina will no longer be processing the material and, as SK Recycles assumes processing responsibilities, their processing has required new items being added to the program,” said Aird.

The city will be rolling out an education program to help residents understand the new changes, using things like a recycling guide which will be sentin the mail, outreach campaigns, social media campaigns, and even artificial intelligence (AI).

“We’ve got this AI technology that will be on recycling trucks in various neighbourhoods throughout,” said Aird.

“It actually visually sees what goes into the cart, then it will send you a postcard if it sees stuff that wasn’t allowed and just says, ‘Hey, these things were in your recycling cart, and these aren’t accepted,’” she said.

If those instructions aren’t followed, Aird even said there could be a possibility of introducing fines in the future.

“It would be a while coming because we want to give a long time for people to adopt the change,” she said. “It takes a while to build a new habit.

“The way the fines would work is you have to be told once, specifically about something, and then twice, and you get a letter.”

“It’s a progressive thing before it actually goes to a fine,” said Aird.

— with files from CJME News

Read more:

• Changes to blue bins passed at Regina city council
• SARCAN now accepting variety of plastics, glass and foam packaging
• Meet the Saskatoon duo diverting tonnes of waste from the landfill