The City of Windsor and Circular Materials are launching what's being called 'a Windsor-made solution' to help people get rid of their old recycling bins and carts.
For a two-week period, beginning February 10, crews will be collecting old containers, including Herby Curby bins, from homes across the city.
People wishing to take part are asked to register online until 11:59 p.m., February 8, 2026.
Registered residents will receive their pickup date via email. You can also call 311 to register for a pickup.
As of January 1, 2026, Circular Materials, a national not-for-profit organization, has been fully responsible for operating Ontario's recycling program in a new single-stream recycling collection system that will allow all recyclables to be put into one bin.
Circular Materials says only the new blue carts from GFL Environmental can be collected because they are the only ones that are compatible with the new automated cart collection system, which means the old small bins and Herby Curby carts will not be collected for recycling.
Windsor's Senior Manager of Environmental Services Jim Leether says people can reuse their old carts if they want to.
"We do encourage residents to reuse their old rollout carts as much as they can in the yard waste or garbage streams in the City of Windsor," he says. "Unfortunately, the smaller red and blue bins-we don't accept those as garbage-compliant containers. This is an opportunity for residents to put them out for recycling."
Leether says a lot of people had one or two recycling bins or one or two carts.
"We are expecting quite an uptick in participation for this, and we're ready for that," he says. "I can share that, in speaking with my counterparts at 311 already this morning, we're seeing about a registration a minute, which is awesome. We're thrilled the residents of Windsor are going to make use of this program."
Leether says the whole point of this is to make sure these bins don't end up in the landfill.
"We're collecting them and then consolidating them here in Windsor, and then in our partnership with Circular Materials, we're shipping them up to a recycling facility in Tilbury, which is going to grind them down into pellets with other plastics and make sure they get into the plastic recycling industries," he says.
A posting on the City of Windsor's Facebook page says, "Ensuring bins are properly emptied and accessible will help collection crews work efficiently and safely."
Click here to register through the secure portal.
Visit https://www.citywindsor.ca/residents/waste-and-recycling for more information.