New products being allowed as part of expanded provincial EPR recycling program

New recycling guidelines take effect Thursday (Oct. 1) around the province as part of the Extended Producer Responsibility program or EPR. 

Several communities around our region, including those with curbside service, can now add more to the blue carts or bins. 

On the list, that wasn’t before: styrofoam, stretchy plastics, like cling wrap, mixed packaging like toothpaste tubes and deodorant sticks, and aerosol containers like air fresheners and shaving cream.

Under EPR, which began in April 2025, the cost of recycling single-use plastics, paper, and packaging was shifted from municipalities to producers.