If you’re reading this, you’re probably a recycler. And you probably want to recycle and reduce waste as much as you can.

Below you’ll find an abundance of options to reuse or recycle things that can’t go in your blue bin. A few things in this list don’t have recycling or reuse options, but we included them because they can be particularly problematic if they end up in the blue bin.

If you’re ever curious if something can go in your blue bin, be reused, or recycled elsewhere, look it up in our Recyclepedia search tool.

B

Batteries (Lead-Acid/Automotive)

Take lead-acid batteries (e.g., car batteries) to a Canadian Battery Association drop-off location. Many garages/automotive shops and community depots serve as drop-off locations. Find one near you.

Do NOT put them in your blue bin or garbage; they can be harmful to the environment if disposed of improperly.

Batteries (Single-Use and Rechargeable)

Recycle batteries at a Recycle Your Batteries Canada! drop-off site near you.

They accept single-use and rechargeable dry-cell household batteries weighing up to 5 kg (11 lbs.). Common examples include: 

– A, AA, AAA, C, D, 9V, button cell.
– Rechargeable batteries for electronics and power tools.
– E-mobility batteries used on devices such as e-bikes and e-scooters.

– See all accepted battery types.

Do NOT put them in your blue bin or garbage; they’re the leading cause of garbage and recycling truck fires and can be harmful to the environment if disposed of improperly.

• Collect batteries in non-metal containers and store them safely.
• Protect battery terminals with tape or in plastic bags before storing or recycling.

Bicycles

Donate working bikes to a thrift store or check with local bike shops, clubs, or non-profits to see if they accept bike donations. Some will refurbish damaged bikes or use the parts for repairs.

In Winnipeg, you can take bikes and parts to any 4R Winnipeg Depot to be reused or refurbished through their program with W.R.E.N.C.H., which provides residents with affordable or free bikes.

Blankets

Donate to a thrift store or animal shelter.

Black Plastics

Black plastics, regardless of their plastic number, are not accepted in your blue bin. The automated machinery used to identify and sort plastics can’t identify black plastics, and there is a limited end market for them.

Blister Packs with Foil

Blister packs with foil or metallic material (e.g., medication and chewing gum blister packs) are not accepted in your blue bin. Please put them in the garbage.

Many optometrist clinics in Manitoba accept contact lens blister packs for recycling. Find one near you.

Blister packs with a cardboard back or fully plastic blister packs (e.g., clamshell packs) are accepted in your blue bin. Please separate cardboard from plastic before recycling.

Books*

Books (hard and soft cover) in their entirety are not accepted in the blue bin. Donate books to a thrift store if they’re intact.

*Book pages are accepted in your recycling. Please remove the pages from the binding before putting them in your blue bin. Put the binding in the garbage.  

Bread Bag Tags/Tabs

Bread bag tags are not accepted in your blue bin because they’re too small to be sorted and end up getting lost during the sorting process. This post has great ideas for reusing them, such as labelling and organizing cords.

Broken glass

Broken glass isn’t accepted in your blue bin because the small shards contaminate other materials and aren’t able to be sorted. Put broken glass in the garbage.

“What about glass that breaks during recycling collection?” you may be wondering. Other materials such as cardboard, paper, and plastic containers act as padding, so very little glass breaks and isn’t problematic.

Bubble Wrap & Bubble Mailers

Bubble wrap and mailers/envelopes/parcels lined with plastic bubbles are not accepted in your blue bin.

You can donate these and other packing/shipping materials to most thrift stores. Local craft, art, and antique sellers may be open to taking them too. Alternatively, you can use them to safely store fragile items, such as glassware and holiday decorations.

Building/Construction Materials

Habit for Humanity’s ReStores (in Winnipeg and Brandon) accept a variety of construction and renovation materials in new and gently-used condition.

Many communities accept certain building materials for community use or recycling at local waste sites, such as Winnipeg’s 4R Depots. Contact your community to learn what options are available.

F

Filters (Air or Water)

Terracycle has a partner program with Brita Pitchers, so you can recycle the pitchers, filters, and dispensers. Check if the brand you use has a recycling program.

Fluorescent Light Bulbs & Tubes

See Household Hazardous Waste (HHW).

Food Scraps

Compost food scraps and most other organic materials in your yard or your community’s compost program. Check your community’s guidelines to find out what’s accepted.

Food Storage Containers (e.g., Tupperware)

Reusable food storage containers are not accepted in your blue bin. Donate them to a thrift store. You can recycle metal containers at some depots or scrap dealers.

Note: plastic single-use food containers (e.g., for takeout food) are accepted in your blue bin, except for black plastic and foam.

Furniture

Try to repair damaged furniture before discarding it. Donate furniture to a thrift store or non-profit, even if it’s damaged (just ensure the amount of damage is acceptable to the receiver). If it’s too damaged to donate, post it online for free. Many hobbyists will take even heavily damaged furniture and repair/restore it.

J

Jewelry

Reuse or donate to a thrift store.

Juice Pouches

Put juice pouches in the garbage.

Juice boxes are accepted in your blue bin.

P

Paint & Paint Cans

See Household Hazardous Waste (HHW).

Paper Towels & Tissue Paper

Compost most organic materials in your yard or your community’s compost program. Check your community’s guidelines to find out what’s accepted.

Do not compost paper towels or tissues if they’re contaminated with cleaning products, paint, oil, or other inorganic compounds.

Pencils & Pencil Crayons

Reuse or donate to a thrift store.

Pens, Markers, and Mechanical Pencils (Plastic)

Reuse or donate to a thrift store. Recycle empty and broken plastic writing utensils at a Staples retail location.

Pesticides & Containers

See Household Hazardous Waste (HHW).

Plastic Bags

Reuse plastic bags as much as possible. Some grocery stores and retailers have bins to recycle plastic bags. Find one near you.

Plastic Plant Pots

Reuse or donate to a thrift store. Many nurseries/greenhouses accept plant pot donations as well.

Plastic Wrap

Use reusable beeswax wraps or cloths to cover/wrap food instead.

Pots, Pans and Baking Trays

Reuse or donate to a thrift store.

Power Cords

See Electronics

Power Tools

Check if you can find a repair guide online. Reuse or donate to a thrift store.

For battery recycling options: see Batteries.

Propane Tanks & Cylinders

Reuse or return refillable propane tanks to a retailer.

See Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) to recycle single-use gas cylinders/canisters properly.

Recycling contamination is a problem, and the reasons may surprise you.

A load of residential recycling may contain items that don’t belong, but that doesn’t mean the entire load is contaminated or no longer fit to be recycled. High-tech sorting facilities can separate your recycling from the things that don’t belong. So, what’s all the fuss about contamination in the blue bin, and what happens to contaminated recycling?

What is recycling contamination?

Recycling contamination occurs when anything that isn’t allowed in a blue bin ends up in one. It varies by location, but for Manitoba’s residential recycling programs this includes:

Items that are not accepted in the blue bin in your community, such as:

• Garbage
• Organic waste
• Items that can be recycled through depots but can’t go in your blue bin, as they require special handling (e.g., electronics, household hazardous waste containers, batteries, and much more).

Items that are accepted in your blue bin, BUT:

• they contain excessive food or liquid (note that some residue is fine; check out this video to see how clean containers should be).
• they have been bundled together (i.e. put in an opaque plastic bag or nested inside other materials).

On average, 15% of the items collected in Manitoba’s residential recycling are contaminants. We list the most common contaminants later in this article.

What happens to contaminated recycling (and what doesn’t)?

A somewhat-common belief exists that if someone’s recycling is contaminated, everything goes to the landfill, no matter how perfect the rest of the recycling is. This is not true. If it were, there wouldn’t be a point in collecting recycling, because there’s bound to be some contamination in every truck load.

Once collected, residential recycling goes to a sorting facility. Workers and machines sort accepted recyclables by material type and then compact them into bales. Nearly all non-accepted items get filtered out and taken to a landfill. The sorters aren’t perfect, so some residual waste may get baled with recyclables.

The bales are then shipped to end-markets (i.e., paper mills, metal or plastic processors) that process the materials to be used to manufacture new products. The processors that purchase the bales permit some contamination and will remove any residual waste that doesn’t belong. If the bales repeatedly exceed the permitted level of contamination, the processors may refuse them. But don’t panic—this is rare thanks to the high efficacy of modern sorting facilities.

But if that’s the case…

Why is recycling contamination a problem?

1. Worker safety and equipment damage

Many items pose risks to collection and sorting staff and their equipment. For example, batteries are the most common cause of recycling truck and sorting facility fires.

Although most recycling is sorted by machinery, staff must first remove contamination by hand (which moves quickly along conveyor belts) that could damage equipment. Furniture, scrap metal, and other large or sharp objects can injure sorting staff.

Biohazards like pet waste or leftover food, and chemical hazards like fluorescent light bulbs can have the potential to cause serious illness to the workers that handle them.

Plastic film and bags are surprisingly detrimental; they get tangled in machinery, and workers that remove them may not see potential hazards under or in the bags.

2. Increased transportation (more fuel emissions)

As mentioned, any non-accepted items collected get sorted out. They then need to be taken to a landfill. This adds an extra trip to dispose of things that could’ve been collected by the residential garbage trucks already on the road. It ends up taking two trips to end up in the same place it would have had it been just put in the garbage bin.

3. Contamination of accepted recyclables

Perfectly good recyclables occasionally don’t get recycled due to contamination. This typically happens in one of three ways:

a) Nesting – When different types of materials are placed inside each other (e.g., a soup can inside a cereal box) which can prevent sorters from putting them into the correct stream.

b) Improperly bagging recycling – In many communities, it’s ok to put your recycling in clear bags. But if they’re put into black or opaque bags, staff can’t see whether it’s recycling or garbage, and they typically won’t open them for safety reasons.

In many communities, such as Winnipeg and Brandon, the only time a clear bag should be in the blue bin is if it contains shredded paper. Other materials can’t be bagged—not even in clear bags. This is because staff need to manually open and empty the bags before they reach the sorting line. There’s an enormous amount of recycling that needs to be processed daily, and if too many people bag their recycling, sorting staff won’t have time to safely open and empty every bag on top of all the other things they do to keep the facility running.

c) Excessive food and liquid – Metal, glass, and plastic recyclables aren’t easily affected by food or liquid contamination. As long as there’s not a lot of food or liquid in them, they’ll be baled and sent to end-markets that will clean them of any food, dirt, or other residue.

Paper and cardboard aren’t as resilient. Paper quality decreases when it absorbs food or liquids, and it can’t be washed like plastic and metal. For this reason, paper-based items can become contaminated if unemptied containers in the blue bin or recycling truck leak onto them.

4. Increased costs

Each problem above increases operational costs. Plus, when would-be recyclables are thrown out because they’re tainted by excessive food or liquid, it reduces revenue from material sales that help offset program costs.

How to reduce recycling contamination.

You can help reduce your community’s recycling contamination rate by following the steps below:

• Make sure your containers are empty before you toss them into the blue bin.
• Toss your recyclables into the bin loosely; don’t nest the materials (i.e., stuff them into one another) and don’t bag them unless your community’s program permits.
• Don’t put anything in your blue bin that your community does not accept.

When in doubt, check the Recyclepedia. It shows you what can go in your blue bin and what can’t. It will tell you any special recycling instructions, and let you know if other recycling options are available for items that can’t go in your blue bin.

Top 10 most common contaminants in Manitoba recycling.

DO NOT put these in your blue bin:

• Styrofoam
• Coffee pods
• Clothing and textiles
• Compostable packaging
• Pots and pans
• Aluminum foil and plates
• Paper towels, tissues and napkins
• Plastic pouches and laminates (e.g., chip bags, bread bags)
• Ceramics

Other common types of contamination that can be recycled or safely disposed at depots and/or retailers, but not in your blue bin:

• Batteries
• Electronics
• Household hazardous waste (HHW)
• Ink and toner cartridges
• Medications (e.g., capsules, tabs, ointments) and some medical sharps.
• Paint cans (full or empty)
• Oil, antifreeze, and their containers (even when empty).
• Plastic bags and cellophane
• Thermostats containing mercury
• Tires

Author: Joel Larson

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.

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.

For many years, we’ve encouraged consumers to use the 3Rs when it comes to plastic bags – reduce, reuse and recycle. Read more to learn why plastic bags aren’t accepted for recycling, and tips on what to do with the bags already in your home.

Plastic bags don’t belong in the blue bin

Plastic bags and film are recyclable, but not in your blue bin. When your recycling is picked up from the curb, it’s brought to the Material Recycling Facility (MRF). From there, recyclables pass through the sorting belts and machinery, get baled, then are shipped to be made into something new.

Plastic bags and film are problematic at the MRF for a few reasons. If a bag makes its way into the machinery, everything will need to be shut off so staff can manually remove the bags. This slows everything down and causes huge delays for baling recyclables.

Recyclables should be put in loosely, so they’re able to be sorted easily at the MRF. Bagged recyclables also pose a danger to the sorting staff because they can’t see what’s inside the bag – which could be anything, ranging from garbage, recyclables, or food waste.

Tips for reducing plastic bag waste

If plastic bags can’t be recycled in your curbside blue bin, what should you do?

When you’re out and about, remember to bring a reusable bag with you. Say “no” when a retailer offers you a plastic bag. We don’t need a bag (paper or plastic) for only a few items.

Where possible, reuse the bags in your home. Plastic bags can be reused for several things, such as:

• Stuffing/packing material
• Picking up pet wastes
• Garbage can liners

Also, remember to recycle the plastic bags already in your home. You can find a list of stores accepting plastic bags here.

When it comes to plastic bags, it’s important to remember the 3Rs – reduce your use of plastic bags, reuse the ones you already have, and recycle the ones that remain.

Foam packaging, more commonly known as Styrofoam, is used in many kinds of packaging and miscellaneous items in our day-to-day lives. Styrofoam is one of the top-searched materials in the Recyclepedia with more than 500 views this month alone!

We’ll be the first to say it – the recycling industry is complex and is constantly changing. Because of this, the rules often change and there is a lot of misinformation about what gets recycled in the blue bin, or how recycling works in the province. Below, we debunk six myths about residential recycling and how the program works in Manitoba. (more…)

As market conditions change, what items are accepted in your blue bin can change over time. However, how you prepare your recyclables for collection should stay the same. Here’s a list of recycling do’s and don’ts.

Do: Ensure your containers are empty

• As a general rule, your containers should be empty before tossing them in the blue bin. A quick rinse is always appreciated. Doing so creates a healthier, cleaner work environment for the staff at the Material Recovery Facility (MRF.) It also lessens the chance of contaminating other materials in the blue bin and developing mold and unpleasant odours.

Don’t: Liquids and food waste

• Liquids and food waste don’t belong in your blue bin. This contaminates other clean recyclables. Dump out your liquids and dispose of leftover food before putting your containers in the recycling.

Do: Toss your items in loosely

• When putting your materials in the recycling bin, toss them in loosely. There’s no need to put your recyclables inside other containers (i.e. nesting). Doing this makes the recycling process more challenging because the optical sorters at the MRF won’t be able to sort the items correctly if they’re inside one another.

Don’t: Bag your recyclables

• Bagging your recyclables unfortunately does more harm than good. When staff at the MRF see bagged material on the belt, they immediately pull it off and it goes into the garbage. This is a safety hazard to the workers because they can’t see what’s inside the bag. Save yourself time and toss your items into the bin loosely.

Do: Check if it’s accepted

• Make sure what you’re putting in blue bin is accepted in our program, which collects residential packaging and printed paper. If you’re not sure what is accepted, you can look up items in the Recyclepedia.

Don’t: Toss in unaccepted materials

• If something isn’t accepted in your blue bin, you can donate it to a thrift store, post it for free online, or take it to a drop-off location for recycling. Items that have specific drop-off locations for recycling include electronics, tires, household hazardous waste (e.g., aerosol cans, paint cans), and more.

Whether you like to plant flowers, vegetables, or herbs, or work on projects in the yard, summer season is in full swing. But what do you do with the extra plastic and packaging once you’re done setting everything up? Here’s a list of items commonly used in the yard and how you can recycle them in Manitoba.

Where to recycle building materials

Once you’re finished making your back yard beautiful, Habitat for Humanity will accept some building materials for donation. For more details, visit their website. You can also drop off certain building materials at any of Winnipeg’s 4R Depots.

If you live in Brandon, there are drop-off locations specifically for building materials at the Eastview Landfill. For more information, please visit their website. Building materials such as bricks and concrete tiles will be reused for road repair and construction.

If you live elsewhere in Manitoba, contact your local waste department to find out what options are available in the area.

Where to recycle ceramics

Ceramics such as garden decorations and plant pots are not accepted in your blue bin. You can donate your unwanted ceramics to a local second-hand store. The 4R Winnipeg Depots will also accept ceramics for recycling at any of their locations. The ceramics will be crushed and reused for roads and pads at Brady Resource Management Facility.

Where to recycle garden hoses

These aren’t accepted in your blue bin for recycling, as they get tangled up in the machinery and can cause delays at the Material Recovery Facility (MRF.) Donate hoses in working condition to a thrift store. If they don’t work, try posting them online for free.

Where to recycle Household Hazardous Waste (HHW)

When sprucing up the backyard, you may use some liquids that are classified as HHW. These are products with a hazard symbol, such as pesticides, pool and hot tub cleaner, and flammable liquids. These products are not accepted in your blue bin. To safely dispose of them, visit the Product Care Recycling website to see what products they take and find a drop-off location near you.

Where to recycle paint and paint cans

Paint cans aren’t accepted in your blue bin. If you’re doing any painting this summer, Product Care Recycling will safely dispose of leftover paint and recycle the cans for you. Please do not place paint cans in your blue bin. Read more about what types of paint their program accepts, and to find a drop-off location closest to you on their website.

Where to recycle plastic plant pots and other garden waste

• Plastic plant pots are not accepted in your blue bin. However, most greenhouses and nurseries will accept them for reuse. Contact your local greenhouse or nursery to see if they will take them.  You can also donate them to a thrift store. The 4R Winnipeg Depots will accept these for recycling in their ‘Large plastics’ bins.
• Soil and rocks: residents can drop off their extra soil and rocks at any of the 4R Winnipeg Depots. The material will be reused as cover at the Brady Resource Management Facility.
• Soil and fertilizer bags: bags of any kind are not accepted in your blue bin for recycling.

Where to recycle or compost yard waste

Yard waste is not accepted in your blue bin. However, the City of Winnipeg will collect yard waste biweekly with your cart collection. Grass clippings, shrub and bush clippings, and small branches (less than 10 cm in diameter) are accepted in the paper bags. The yard waste will be composted and reused. For more details, visit their website.

For residents outside Winnipeg, there are various locations to drop off your yard waste.

• City of Brandon
• City of Portage La Prairie
• City of Selkirk
• Other Manitoba residents can contact their local waste department for options.

Before placing anything in your blue bin, it’s important to check the Recyclepedia or with your local municipality first to see what is and is not accepted. Remember that recycling happens in all areas of the home, inside and out.

Happy gardening!