Publications and Resources

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Below are flyers and recent newsletters related to our programs and services.Alternate formats of all Waste publications are available upon request. Interested in receiving our electronic newsletter? Go to our subscription page to sign up for Waste Management eNews.

General

2021 Waste Collection Calendar (includes January, 2022).
2021 Garbage and bulky item Collection Calendar at a glance (4 x 7 inch)
Collection by-law
Waste collection Guidelines
Basic how to sort your waste flyer - English Available in Arabic, French, German, Mandarin, Portuguese, and Spanish. Call 519-575-4400 to receive a copy.
Residential Reduce and Reuse Options

Annual reports

Blue box

Using the blue box brochure
History of the blue box factsheet
Myths versus facts about recycling (December, 2019)

Learn more about federal and provincial initiatives related to the Blue Box program:

Ontario government is proposing a new plan for the Blue Box program which includes several changes including: transition the responsibility from municipalities to product and packaging producers, and standardize the types of materials collected. Here's a recent update and draft regulation.
Canadian government's Zero Plastic Waste initiative.

Cart recycling (for schools and multi-unit buildings)

Electronics

Learn about the recent provincial initiative that takes action on e-waste.

Garbage collection

Garbage weight and size restrictions

Green bin

Learn more about provincial initiatives related to organics:

Food and organics framework

Yard waste

The 2020 seasonal yard waste collection program is over. See information on our Yard Waste page for options on how to deal with yard waste.

Landfill operations

Closed landfills factsheet
Landfill gas to energy factsheet
Environmental controls factsheet
Banned material information
User fee schedule - residential, commercial

Resources for landlords and property managers

Environews

Environews is ongoing online. Subscribe to the electronic Environews through the Region's subscription page.

Waste Management Division electronic newsletter

To subscribe to WMD eNews, go to the Region's subscription page.

Waste Management Master Plan

Our latest Waste Management Master Plan (WMMP) was approved by Regional Council in November, 2013, after extensive research, and public consultation (including an online survey and public information sessions). We needed a new WMMP given the majority of the original 1986 WMMP had been implemented.

Our WMMP provides a guideline on:

new ways to divert (reduce, reuse and recycle) waste from our one-and-only landfill, and
long term, sustainable option for dealing with garbage, after our landfill closes in about 15 years. Note: We adopted a waste hierarchy that includes “Recovery” and considers recovery of energy and resources above landfilling.

The lists of priorities and options in this master plan still require individual, detailed implementation plans, budgets and approval by Regional Council.

To date, we have made good progress on our WMMP:

March, 2017: We implemented curbside collection policy changes to increase diversion including garbage bag/can limits, bi-weekly garbage collection, standardized Regional residential waste collection in all seven area municipalities, and a “user pay” program (garbage tags), and standardized the Regional waste by-law.
June, 2018: Drywall and wooden pallet recycling drop-off programs started at our transfer stations.
We have started investigating thermal technology options for residual garbage, established an inter-municipal working group to explore potential partnership opportunities, and continue to pursue opportunities with the Water Services Division to maximize synergies for processing and disposal of residual waste and biosolids.

Future plans include:

Investigate waste diversion options for multi-unit buildings (expected between 2019 to 2021)
Modifying depot drop-offs (design work is underway for our Waterloo site)

Reports and documents

Final Master Plan report (2MB)* which includes the Waste Reduction and Diversion Study (3 MB)* These historical documents are not in an accessible format
E13-127* Waste Management Master Plan: Final Study Report to Planning and Works Committee November 12, 2013, approved by Regional Council on November 20, 2013 (see the minutes* starting on page 13)
TES-WMS-15-01*: Waste Management Master Plan Implementation Update, February 3, 2015
TES-WMS-16-05*: Waste Management Master Plan Update, Completion of Thermal Treatment and Energy Recovery for Residual Waste Management Feasibility Study (Consultant Presentation), June 14, 2016

*Documents available in accessible format upon request.

Videos

1. Virtual Tour:

This amazing virtual tour will take you “behind the scenes” in our Nyle Ludolph Materials Recycling Centre and landfill area at our Waterloo site. Take your time, move your cursor right, left and all the way around for an in-depth view of the different areas. To really bring the video alive, watch it with virtual-reality goggles.

During the video tour, you will see symbols:

When you click on the camera icon, it will take you to a photo with a written description.