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Changes to blue cart recycling in Regina may be creating some confusion about just what can and cannot be put into the carts.
The City of Regina and SK Recycles are hoping to clear up that confusion, and in the process, slash problem waste in the blue carts by at least two-thirds.
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“Flexible plastics is one of the most frequent contamination items that we’re seeing,” Carolyn Karim, the city’s director of water, waste, and environment said Tuesday.
“Flexible plastics are really any plastic that you can deform or stretch or squish. That’s everything from chip bags to bubble wrap to those plastic mailers that you might receive in the mail to plastic bags.”
Karim said some people are bagging their recycling before putting it into their cart, which is a no-no.
“Contaminants, when they come to a processing facility like this, can tangle up the machinery, shut down work,” she said, “and it can also cause entire batches of recycling to become contaminated and need to be discarded.”
Examples of non-recyclable material in a Regina blue bin, snapped by a camera mounted on a recycling truck. (City of Regina/Submitted)
Other items highlighted by the city are glass containers, styrofoam, and soft foam. They can be taken to SARCAN depots for recycling, but not put into blue bins.
Last summer, SK Recycles took over recycling operations from the city, which is still responsible for collection. The non-profit agency is funded by companies that produce paper and packaging, and in turn, provides money to the City of Regina and other municipalities to pay for the collection as well as education.
Under the previous operation run by the city, the now-banned items were allowed in blue carts.
Colleen McKee with SK Recycles explained it’s important to the recycling program that the bales of recycling materials are clean and sorted when they leave the Crown Shred and Recycling plant.
“Those bales can then be sold to end markets and processed into raw materials for new products and packaging,” she said.
McKee explained SK Recycles has a target that no more than six per cent of the recycling collected from blue carts contain materials that can’t be accepted.
Regina’s rate is 18 per cent, and has remained steady.
More examples of non-recyclable materials in a Regina blue bin, snapped by a camera mounted on a recycling truck. (City of Regina/Submitted)
City focusing on education, but fines are possible
When the city adopted the change to SK Recycles in 2025, council also approved a list of potential fines for putting items in blue carts that aren’t allowed. They range from $150-$250.
Karim said the city has not fined anyone yet under the bylaw, choosing to focus on education for now.
“We have mailed out new waste sorting guides to every household,” she said.
“We’re often at events in the community, handing out magnets and other educational materials. We have different ad campaigns that we’ve run.”
She also highlighted technology being used on recycling trucks. It uses a camera combined with artificial intelligence to identify items in the cart that shouldn’t be there. The homeowner then gets a postcard with the photo, in an attempt to educate them.
Beyond fines, Kalim said a last resort would be to cut off service.
“We know that residents really care about doing the right thing,” she said.
“We know that residents care about having low waste fees, and so we’re hoping to get the messaging out that sorting your waste responsibly will allow us to continue to deliver an efficient and cost effective service.”
McKee confirmed the city itself could be fined by SK Recycles if there isn’t improvement, but said that would also be a last resort.
Kalim said those fines to the city could range from $5,000 per load up to $600,000 annually.
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