How much packaging do you go through during the holiday season? All the holiday shopping and Black Friday deals can leave you with mountains of boxes, bags, parcels, and plastics—especially if you shop online.

It’s important to know which packaging materials you can recycle in your blue bin, so the most wonderful time of year isn’t the most wasteful. It’s also important to know what can’t go in your blue bin, because recycling processors handle more material during the holiday season.

Use the list below to find out which common shipping materials are accepted or not accepted in Manitoba residential recycling programs.

Shipping packaging accepted for residential recycling

Cardboard boxes

Note:

• Staples, tape, and shipping labels don’t need to be removed (although it’s appreciated if you do).
• Do not nest other items inside of boxes; this can lead to materials being improperly sorted.
• Flatten and/or cut large boxes to fit them loosely in your blue bin.

Corrugated cardboard wrap/cushioning

Molded paper inserts

Kraft paper

Paper-padded envelope

Note:

• These packages are lined with soft padding made of paper and glue. They’re a recyclable alternative to plastic-padded envelopes.

Shipping packaging NOT accepted for residential recycling

Plastic-padded envelope

Note:

• These packages may have a paper or plastic exterior, but are lined with bubble wrap, which isn’t accepted for recycling.

Soft or rigid foam (e.g., Styrofoam)

Bubble wrap

Plastic air bags/pillows

Note:

• Some retailers accept plastic bags for recycling.

That covers the bulk of shipping packaging you’ll encounter. If you’re unsure if you can recycle something that isn’t on this list, try looking it up in the Recyclepedia or check out our holiday recycling guide.

There are a few things you can always expect during the holidays: family dinners, exchanging gifts, and the clean-up that follows. Download our Manitoba holiday recycling guide to see how to best dispose of gift bags, wrapping paper, and other holiday items. We go into more detail on the most common holiday items below.

Your household blue bin is for recycling packaging and printed paper. But there are lots of recyclable items that don’t belong in your blue bin (for reasons outlined below). You can visit drop-off locations, accessible to most Manitobans, to recycle batteries, electronics, tires, and more.

Scroll down to find recycling locations for common household items that don’t belong in your blue bin or garbage. Alternatively, you can search for any of the items below in the Recyclepedia to find out where to recycle them in your community.

This contest is over.

Teachers—show us how your classroom reuses, reduces, and recycles to be entered to win a cash prize.

What is the Remarkable Recycler Contest?

We’ve teamed up with Bell Media to encourage teachers and students to practice and promote waste reduction. Enter your class for a chance to be selected as our Remarkable Recyclers and win a cash prize for your class. There will be new winners each week, and some winners will be featured on CTV Morning Live or Bell Media’s Winnipeg and Brandon radio stations (see below)!

Enter to be a Remarkable Recycler.

Submit a photo showing how your class makes an effort to recycle (students do not need to be in the photo). Some examples are:

• A recycling corner with educational posters and guides.
• A class project focused on recycling and waste reduction. Check out our lesson plans for ideas.
• Anything your class does that encourages or helps students recycle!

The contest is open to all Manitoba teachers from kindergarten to Grade 12. We recommend students and parents tell their teachers to enter!

Teachers can enter easily online through one of our partners’ websites:

• CTV Morning Live
• 103.1 Virgin Radio Winnipeg
• Bounce 96.1 & Pure Country 101.1 Brandon

Share this contest with anyone who you think is making a difference. We can’t wait to see all the remarkable ways they recycle!

Are you unknowingly contaminating your recycling?

It’s your birthday! You pull a shirt out of the gift bag your aunt and uncle gave you. Trying your best to pretend you love it, you toss the bag aside. Your aunt stops you and says there’s something else in the bag. You look back inside. Hidden at the bottom is a $100 gift card—a gift card you came close to losing out on…

This is what can happen to materials in your blue bin when you put them inside other recyclables (also known as nesting). The difference is your aunt was there to let you know about the gift card. There’s no one to tell the machines and workers who sort your recycling there’s a soda can hidden at the bottom of a cereal box.

Nesting recyclables is recycling contamination.

Nesting may seem like a harmless way to save space in your blue bin, but it’s a form of contamination. Even if all the nested materials are accepted for recycling, the different materials can end up getting baled together. This is because most recycling is sorted by automated machinery. Magnets pull metal food cans and lids, and optical sorters use lights and sensors to identify and separate plastics. The sensors can’t detect when there are other materials inside containers or boxes.

Recycling processors have staff who sort nested materials when they see them, but some get missed. Winnipeg’s residential recycling program collected an average of 210.4 tonnes of materials per day last year. It’s impossible to catch everything that doesn’t belong, and some bales get contaminated—but that doesn’t necessarily mean the bales don’t get recycled.

What happens to contaminated recycling?

In most cases, contaminated bales still get recycled. So, what’s wrong if they’re contaminated with other materials? Let’s think back to the soda can in a cereal box example.

When the bale of boxboard gets to a paper mill, the soda can and any other non-paper materials in the bale get thrown out.

Not only does the soda can not get recycled, but it also wastes energy, money, and time by going through the collection, sorting, and shipping processes just to end up in the garbage.

What if materials nest themselves?

Let’s say you do your best and put your recyclables into your blue bin individually. There’s a chance that gravity and movement will nest some materials on the way to a recycling facility. How can you prevent this from happening?

An empty, collapsed box can’t nest anything. Neither can a plastic tub with a lid on.

However sometimes things just don’t have a lid. What now? The best thing to do is avoid overfilling your bin. All materials should be loose in the blue bin.

How to save space in your blue bin.

Too much takeout? Too many deliveries? Too many bulk store visits? Sometimes it feels like the blue bin is filling faster and faster. Here are some tips to get more space without nesting materials:

• Try to reduce the amount of packaging you go through. Some containers are unavoidable (e.g., food, especially for large families), but if your bin is filling quickly, consider buying items where the packaging can collapse (more boxes, less plastic).
• Use reusable containers: Instead of buying single-serving snacks or drinks, use reusable containers and refillable water bottles.
• Reduce junk mail: Did you know you can request direct mail to avoid your mailbox? You can unsubscribe from junk mail! Check how on Canada Post website.
• Collapse cardboard and boxes; no need to remove the tape.
• Crush beverage cans by hand. Crushing cans by hand is fine, but using can-crushers can increase the chance of cans falling out of bales.
• Crush plastic bottles: Squeeze or crush plastic bottles to minimize their size. Make sure to put the cap on so they don’t get lost during the sorting process.
• Empty and rinse containers: You don’t need to scrub them spotless, but try to remove any remaining food, liquid, or other substances. Put the lids back on all containers (except for glass containers with metal lids). Having lids on will prevent smaller objects from getting inside.
• Only put accepted items in the blue bin. Your recycling could be filling fast because you’re wish-cycling – when you have an item that isn’t accepted, but you’re not sure, so you put it in your blue bin and hope it gets recycled. The intentions behind wish-cycling are good, but it leads to contamination and is counterproductive. The collection, sorting, and transporting of contamination from the recycling facility to the landfill leads to more emissions than if you had disposed of it properly.

Have you ever seen a work of art that inspired you? Great art is more than something impressive to look at. It gets people thinking, learning, and motivated to take action on important issues.

That’s why we teamed up with Take Pride Winnipeg once again for an eco-friendly fashion fest at Manitoba Eco-Awareness Day. The event at CF Polo Park welcomed students to design and showcase handmade garments either made of blue bin materials or items that normally go to landfills.

The fashion show demonstrated incredible ways to repurpose items that are typically discarded. MMSM and other Producer Responsibility Organizations were also there for students and spectators to learn about various ways to keep their communities clean.

Have a look at the amazing designs from this year’s finalists.

Newspaper and Plastic Bag Ball Gown

Jessica from O. V. Jewitt Community School crafted this prom night-worthy bouffant gown using newspaper and plastic takeout bags.

The bodice and outer layer of the skirt is made completely with newspaper. The front of the skirt opens to show a bright white underlay made from plastic bags. If you look closely, you can see a bouquet of handmade newspaper roses accenting the waist of the skirt.

Recycled Textile Skirt and Beret

Rohama from George V School took old, plain clothing and turned it into matching statement pieces. She added texture and personality to the skirt with plaid patchwork and made a beautiful black beret to tie the outfit together.

Baler Twine and Netting dress

Ivy from MacGregor Elementary School weaved together her dress using baler twine and netting. That’s right—this elegant gown is made completely out of farm refuse. Ivy saw the beauty in the colourful scraps of discarded twine and turned them into this stunning dress accented with a braided waistband and forearm sleeves.

These Manitoban students put an immense amount of creativity and time into their designs. MMSM has sponsored this event for years, and each year, we’re shocked and inspired by the creations students put on display. We hope they inspired you too.

Your blue bin is for printed paper and packaging. But what about bikes? Washing machines? Mattresses? Manitobans—admirably not wanting to waste—regularly ask us where they can recycle products like these that are damaged or no longer needed.

It’s always best to reuse something before recycling it, so our go-to answers are to donate to second-hand stores, charities, or post it online for free. But there are some products that won’t get any takers, either because they’re too damaged (like a tv with a cracked screen) or too big (like appliances).

But there’s still hope for lots of those damaged and seemingly unwanted goods. We’ve put together this list of places you can take your old appliances, mattresses, electronics, and even bicycles, to be either refurbished and reused, or recycled.

Note: The information below is subject to change. Always check with the business/organization directly before taking items to recycle.

Where to recycle appliances (stoves, washers, dryers, dishwashers, and more)

Provencher Appliance – Most home appliances

Location: 404 Archibald St, Winnipeg

Provencher Appliance will take most home appliances:

• washers & dryers
• stoves
• microwaves
• dishwashers
• refrigerators, freezers, & A/C units (see other places that accept these in the next section)

The company tries to refurbish old or broken appliances first, keeping them alive and out of landfills. If there’s simply no hope for grandma’s cold war stove, they strip it for parts that they can use to save other appliances and recycle the rest.

You can drop off your appliances during their opening hours or pay a fee to have it picked up.

Mother Earth Recycling – Microwaves

Location: 771 Main St, Winnipeg

An Indigenous Social Enterprise in Winnipeg, Mother Earth Recycling accepts mattresses and a variety of electronics (more on that later in the article) for recycling. They also accept microwaves, but this is the only appliance they accept.

You can drop your microwave off to be recycled during opening hours for free or pay a fee to have it picked up.

Other parts of Manitoba

Check with your R.M. or local appliance stores to find out if they recycle appliances.

Where to recycle refrigerators, freezers, and A/C units

EfficiencyMB – Fridges and freezers

Location: Manitoba-wide

To rid the province of inefficient freezers and refrigerators, EfficiencyMB is offering free pick up and a $30 Hydro rebate for working appliances over 20 years old (including other criteria) in coordination with Manitoba Hydro. Although its scope is limited, the program is a great way for some to responsibly dispose of they’re old refrigerating units.

Provencher Appliance – Fridges, freezers, and A/C units.

Location: 404 Archibald St, Winnipeg

We already mentioned them under the ‘appliances’ section, but in case you missed it, they refurbish and recycle refrigerators, freezers, and A/C units.

Other parts of Manitoba

Check with your R.M. or local appliance stores to find out if they recycle refrigerators and freezers.

Where to recycle mattresses and box springs.

Mother Earth Recycling

Location: 771 Main St, Winnipeg

Mother Earth Recycling is Winnipeg’s only mattress recycling service. You can also take your mattresses to the Brady Road 4R Depot, which takes mattresses to Mother Earth Recycling.

They separate the different materials in mattresses like foam, fabric, metal, and wood.

There is an $18 fee for each mattress or box spring to cover the cost of recycling the materials. You can pay an additional fee to have them pick up your mattresses.

Where to recycle electronics.

Recycle My Electronics (EPRA)

Location: Manitoba-wide

As the steward organization responsible for electronics recycling in Manitoba, Recycle My Electronics has drop-off locations across the province. They accept a wide variety of electronics like TVs, printers, cellphones, and many more. You can use their interactive map to find a dop-off site nearest to you.

Saving Audio Recycling

Location: Winnipeg

Saving Audio Recycling is a volunteer organization that refurbishes and recycles audio equipment. They donate refurbished equipment to local non-profits, cultural groups, and schools. Anything they can’t refurbish or use for parts is recycled.

They accept most audio equipment, such as stereos, speakers, record players, and more. Visit their site to see the full list of products they accept and arrange a drop-off or free pick up.

Mother Earth Recycling

Location: 771 Main St, Winnipeg

Mother Earth Recycling accepts most common electronics. They refurbish several kinds of electronics, such as computers and TVs, and recycle the rest following EPRA standards.

Where to recycle bicycles.

Your broken bike doesn’t belong in the dump. With a bit of work, it could be road-ready for years to come. There are a few volunteer-run places you can donate your bike to that will fix it or use any good parts left on it. They help reduce waste while providing affordable transportation to others.

Some places even have a workspace and volunteers that can help you with repairs, so you might not even need to get a new bike after all!

Bicycle recycling in Winnipeg

Coop Velo-cite- 190 Cathedral Ave. Open Sunday 12-4 p.m.

The Bike Dump – 631 Main St. Open Sunday 1-4 p.m. and Tuesday 6-9 p.m.

The WRENCH – Any Winnipeg 4R Depot. The WRENCH collects the bikes from the 4R Depots. They do not accept bike donations at their shops.

Bicycle recycling in Brandon

BNRC Bike Exchange – 440 Rosser Ave. Open Wednesdays 5-7p.m.

Other parts of Manitoba

Check with your local cycling shop to find out if they take used bikes or take to them to your local scrap metal dealer.

Hopefully you were able to find somewhere to donate your stuff. We’ll update this list as we learn of new places that can help Manitobans reduce their waste.

If you know any organizations or businesses that reduce waste by reusing, refurbishing, or repurposing products that would otherwise be disposed of, let us know so we can add them to this list. You can contact us here.

Is there a point to our weekly walks with our blue bins to the curbside? To remembering what we can and can’t recycle? Is it even making a difference?

Yes, yes, and a big green YES.

For Earth Day, let’s explore the various ways recycling protects our planet.

Recycling conserves natural resources.

One of the most significant environmental benefits of recycling is the conservation of natural resources. Before the pages in your notebook were paper, they were part of a tree. Recycling items made of paper, plastic, and metal reduces the need to extract new raw materials. Recycling not only preserves the resources materials are derived from, but also other resources used in their production. For example, recycling 2,000 pounds of paper saves 7,000 gallons of water, according to an article from Stanford University.

With Manitoba recycling millions of kilograms of materials in curbside recycling each year (not to mention materials recycled through other programs), the benefits to our natural resources are massive. Don’t think of your empty bottles, cardboard boxes, or other recyclables as worthless junk that has served its purpose. Instead, think of them as the valuable resources used to produce them.

Recycling reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

When paper and packaging can be made without extracting, transporting, and processing timber or metal ore, it emits significantly fewer GHGs. A 2009 Canadian study showed an emissions reduction of 369 kg of CO2e per tonne when producing recycled paper compared to paper made from virgin pulp (i.e., trees).

Much of the GHG reductions come from the energy saved from recycling.

Recycling saves energy.

Energy consumption is the biggest contributor to GHG emissions from paper and packaging production. Although Manitoba gets it’s power mainly from hydroelectricity, most energy is produced elsewhere. Manufacturing with recycled materials uses less energy than manufacturing with raw materials. An article by the National Institutes of Health states that recycled aluminum uses 95% less energy than it would to make the same amount from its virgin source. Other recycled materials also see great reductions in energy use:

• Steel – 60% less
• Newspaper – 40% less
• Plastics – 70% less
• Glass – 40% less

Recycling also diverts materials from landfills and incinerators. As landfill waste breaks down, it produces methane and, as you can probably imagine, burning waste releases numerous GHGs. Recycling your materials prevents both scenarios.

By reducing GHG emissions, recycling helps reduce air pollution and slow global warming.

Remember to Reduce and Reuse first.

Recycling beats the garbage every time, but don’t forget to reduce waste in other ways.

Be mindful of your impact as a consumer. Try to reduce your consumption of both recyclable and non-recyclable goods when possible. Look for zero or low-waste options for whatever you buy. Avoid single-use items. The federal government estimates their ban on a handful of single-use plastics will eliminate 1.3 million tonnes of waste over the next decade. Think of other items you can reduce in your life—getting a reusable water bottle or using refillable containers for bulk food are simple ways to cut back on waste.

Try to Reuse the things you do buy. Before you recycle that pickle jar or throw that old hat in the garbage, consider if you or someone else could make use of it. You could use the jar to store sugar (the bags always spill!). The old hat? Just because it’s not your style anymore doesn’t mean someone else wouldn’t love it. With thrift stores, the old proverb that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure is as true today as ever. For more valuable items you simply don’t need any more, try selling them online.

If you can’t reuse something, then recycle it. You’ll protect your own environment and the rest of the Earth. If you’re not sure if something is recyclable, visit the Recyclepedia or download the app to find out if it goes in your blue bin or needs to be recycled somewhere else.

Working for a recycling organization, it’s an unwritten rule that our staff have to be passionate about recycling and the environment. In the spirit of Earth Month, we asked our staff to share tips on reducing waste in their everyday lives.

Joel, Communications Coordinator

Since moving into an apartment, I found that my little blue bin would fill up quickly and I would have to take it down to the bins three to four times a week. To be more efficient, I got a bigger bin.  Now, I only take it down once or twice a week. Recyclables are light, so it’s not any harder to carry them out and lift them into the bin outside my building.

Another tip: if I’m running the dishwasher and there’s extra room, I put any dirty recyclables in there instead of rinsing them in the sink!

Kalin, Manager, Field Services

I try to find ways to reduce unnecessary food packaging in my home. Items like coffee, pasta, nuts, and spices can be bought using reusable containers at bulk stores. I’ve also started to refill some cleaning products (i.e., laundry detergent) with reusable containers as well.

Karen, Executive Director

Any plastic containers that I get, I save and reuse them for leftovers. I also reuse plastic packaging from toilet paper to line garbage bins, you should just be mindful when opening the package. I also keep a basket/bin in all areas of the house (including my car and workshop), to collect items for recycling. When they get full, it gets transferred to the recycling cart that goes out to the curb.

Noelle, Marketing & Communications Specialist

Besides recycling all I can in my blue box, I look for opportunities to recycle other items that aren’t accepted in my curbside recycling bin. I donate my old prescription glasses, as well as recycle the blister packs from my contact lenses at my optometrist’s office. I also recycle old pens and markers that are out of ink through Staples’ writing instrument recycling program. I keep reusable bags in my car, so I’m never without a bag when I’m at the grocery store.

Susan, Municipal Reporting Coordinator & Office Administrator

I’ve donated a lot of old furniture and clothing to thrift stores. Any old socks with holes are reused as toys for my dogs to play with. Instead of going shopping for new clothes, I’ll shop in my own closet to see what I can re-wear. I’ve also rearranged furniture around my home and found different uses for them, instead of having to buy new items.

I buy groceries in bulk so I can plan meals for my family. When it comes time to cook, we cook everything in large portions and then freeze the leftovers to save for later. This saves on packaging and time spent on making other meals.

In recent years, you may have heard that only nine percent of plastic gets recycled. Wide misrepresentation of this statistic, among other reasons, has led many people to question whether the plastics they put in their blue bins are getting recycled. Some have even stopped recycling as a result, believing their recyclables (and their efforts) are going to waste.

The reality is, nearly all recyclable plastic collected in Manitoba is recycled. Let’s look at what the 9 percent statistic really means, how much plastic Manitobans are recycling, and why plastic in the recycling stream occasionally can’t be recycled.

Is it true that nine percent of plastic is recycled?

In 2017, a study found that nine percent of plastic produced globally has been recycled. It gained a lot of media coverage and left many with a misunderstanding of what it means.

The statistic refers to all plastic ever made—recyclable and non-recyclable. Most plastics aren’t accepted for residential recycling due to the lack of end-markets or because they’re not recyclable. Although nine percent is a low number, it represents millions of tonnes of plastic annually that are kept out of landfills and environments across the world. As technology, public policy, and education improve, so will these numbers.

The next phase of Canada’s federal ban on several single-use plastics comes into effect in December 2023. Retailers and restaurants will no longer be able to offer plastic straws, food containers, stir sticks, and other single-use plastic items. The government estimates the ban will reduce Canada’s total annual plastic waste by about three percent. Other environmental groups estimate about a five percent reduction.

For now, the best way to eliminate plastic waste is to reduce consumption or reuse/repurpose items. But when that’s not possible, recycling accepted materials will keep them out of landfills.

What happens to my recycling in Manitoba?

After being sorted, recyclables are compacted into bales before being transported to end markets.

Any accepted materials collected from your blue bin will get recycled unless they’re contaminated. Recycling contamination can occur in many forms. Thankfully plastic is much harder to contaminate than other materials. There are three main causes of plastic contamination:

• When containers contain excessive amounts of food or liquid.
• When recyclables are placed in opaque plastic bags or nested together.
• When unaccepted plastics are placed in the blue bin.

In Manitoba, there’s a 10-15% contamination rate in residential recycling. This means that 85-90% of materials collected are recycled. To avoid contaminating your recycling, it’s crucial to follow recycling guidelines in your area.

Like any other accepted material, once plastics have been sorted and baled, they’re shipped to an end market. MMSM monitors where communities are sending their recycling. They must ensure recyclables go to an acceptable end market to receive funding from MMSM—burning or sending materials to landfill is unacceptable. Recycling from Manitoba is shipped to end markets in Ontario, the U.S. and sometimes exported overseas depending on market conditions. Where they get sent depends on market conditions and can change daily.

The plastic collected from blue bins will get recycled, but we can only recycle as much as we collect.

How much recyclable plastic is recovered in Manitoba?

MMSM tracks recovery rates for all accepted materials in Manitoba each year. In 2020, Manitobans recycled 10,878 of the 23,692 tonnes of plastic packaging that entered the province. That’s a recovery rate of 45.9 percent—nearly double what it was 10 years ago at 23.3%.

While there have been steady increases in recovery rates, there’s still lots of room to improve. Keep a recycling bin close to your garbage can, and if you’re unsure whether you can recycle something, look it up in the Recyclepedia. You can also view or print a recycling guide with common materials if you scroll past the Recyclepedia search tool.

Please recycle whenever you have the opportunity and encourage others. You can rest assured knowing that the items you roll out to the curb each week are being recycled.