The MRC Pontiac is set to begin rolling out blue recycling bins to certain participating municipalities this week, a milestone for the county which, according to the MRC, is the last in the province to implement door-to-door recycling collection.
The rollout is part of the province’s new recycling program run by non-profit Éco Entreprises Québec (EEQ), which is responsible for the collection, sorting and sale of recyclable materials.
Starting the week of Nov. 10, blue bins will be delivered to residents of Shawville, Mansfield-et-Pontefract, Bryson, Campbell’s Bay, Chichester, L’Isle-aux-Allumettes, Sheenboro, Portage-du-Fort and Waltham.
But MRC Pontiac waste coordinator Nina Digioacchino said not everyone can begin using their bins right away. For all municipalities except Shawville and Mansfield, residents must wait to use their bins until the company hired for the MRC’s new contract begins collecting recycling on Jan. 1, 2026.
Digioacchino said the company hired for the new contract will have trucks equipped with automated lateral arms. She said the current municipal trucks collecting recyclable materials are not equipped to handle the larger, 360-litre blue bin containers.
“Right now it’s the municipal truck that’s going around with a trailer [ . . . ]
These bins are just too big and it’s just more of a health and safety issue to be lifting and dumping those.”
Shawville and Mansfield residents will be able to use their blue bins right away since those municipalities already have trucks with automated lateral arms that can handle pickup of the larger bins.
As for businesses, Digioacchino said those that produce less than six 360-litre bins of recycling every two weeks can participate in the biweekly pickup.
“If for whatever reason [businesses] don’t receive any bins, we can definitely potentially readjust in the new year,” she said.
The EEQ program also slightly modified the materials that are allowed in recycling bins, shifting away from the numbering system on plastics toward a simpler method.
“We’re looking to see, is it a container, packaging or printed material? If it’s one of those three [ . . . ] it goes in your blue bin,” she told THE EQUITY this spring.
Commonly asked questions about which materials are allowed in the blue bin can be found on the website of Bin Impact, a recycling awareness initiative of EEQ. Recyclable materials will have to be placed loose inside the bin instead of in bags.
Digioacchino said while certain municipalities have chosen not to offer door-to-door collection of recyclable materials, residents can still bring their recyclable materials to their municipality’s transfer station to be collected there.
