The Manitoba Recycling Guide

What goes in your bin, what doesn’t, and where everything else goes.

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What goes in your recycling

What can you recycle in Manitoba

Six categories, a few simple rules for what can generally go in your blue bin. Keep it mostly clean, keep it loose, and keep containers empty.

  • Printed Paper

    Newspaper, flyers, office paper, magazines, greeting cards without foil.

    Keep dry and loose

  • Paper packaging

    Milk and juice cartons, paper bags, moulded paper trays.

    Empty

  • Cardboard & boxboard

    Shipping boxes, moulded paper trays, cereal boxes, egg cartons, paper towel rolls.

    Flatten, keep dry

  • Plastic containers

    Bottles, jugs, tubs, clamshells, jars.

    Empty, lids on

  • Metal cans

    Food and beverage cans, cookie tins, hair product tins

    Empty, no foil or foil trays

  • Glass bottles & jars

    Bottles and jars from food, beverages, and condiments.

    Empty, lids off

The full A-Z

This page covers the basics. Recyclepedia covers everything.

Search any item from blister packs to batteries to pizza boxes and get the answer for your community.

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What doesn’t belong in the bin

The most wish-cycled items — and where they actually go

  • Styrofoam

    Breaks apart and contaminates bales; no local market for it.

    Garbage

    Expanded polystyrene crumbles into beads that stick to paper and plastic alike. It’s expensive and difficult to recycle, so there are no reprocessors available to Manitoba.

  • Batteries

    Fire risk in collection trucks and sorting facilities.

    Battery drop-off location

    Lithium-ion cells ignite when they are crushed, and a compacting truck crushes everything. Fires started this way have shut down sorting facilities across Canada. Tape the terminals of any battery you are storing, keep them in a container away from heat, and take them to a designated drop-off — most hardware stores, libraries and municipal offices host one.

  • Electronics

    Contain materials that need specialized recovery processes.

    Electronics recycling depot

    Phones, laptops, and microwaves hold gold, copper and rare earths worth recovering, alongside lead and mercury that must not reach landfill. Manitoba’s electronics recycling program takes them free of charge at registered depots and department stores; wipe your devices first, and remove any batteries if accessible.

  • Textiles & clothing

    Fabric tangles sorting machinery.

    Textile donation or drop-off bin

    Loose fabric winds around the spinning discs that separate paper from containers, and crews have to stop the line and cut it free by hand. Wearable clothing belongs with a charity or thrift shop.

Frequently asked questions

Sorting, prep, and collection basics

For anything item-specific, the Recyclepedia has the one-item answer.

  • No. Everything the program accepts goes loose into the same blue bin — no sorting by material at the curb. Separation happens after collection, at a sorting facility, where recyclables are sorted by type, baled, and shipped to manufacturers.

  • The number identifies the type of plastic, not whether you can recycle it. Most plastic packaging is accepted in Manitoba regardless of the number. The exceptions are black plastic, foam, flexible plastics like bags and squeeze tubes, and containers for certain hazardous products. If you’re still not sure, check the item itself in the Recyclepedia.

  • Empty and mostly clean is enough — they do not need to be spotless. Just empty and free of food. Leftover food can prevent the container, and any paper or cardboard it leaks onto, from getting recycled. Leave labels on; they come off during processing. Put plastic lids back on the container once it is rinsed, and keep everything loose.

  • It travels to a sorting facility, where it is sorted by material type, baled, and sold to processors who turn it into new packaging and products. Manitoba’s recovered material is mainly sold to manufacturers in Manitoba, other provinces, and nearby US states. Recovery rates are published each year.

Recycle Manitoba

The Manitoba Recycling Guide

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One guide designed to work on your fridge or a black-and-white office printer

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All sorted.

Search any item for a one-answer breakdown of what bin it goes in.

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