The city's senior manager of environment services is telling Windsor residents that they can repurpose their existing recycling bins and Herby Curby containers for garbage and yard waste.
Jim Leether says he hopes, in partnership with the Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority, to put out some helpful tips to residents before the switch is made to the new recycling collection system.
"I'm encouraging residents to wait for some information from us to reuse them," he says. "We don't want them to see them hit the landfill. I've probably spoken to 100 residents in the past week since these bins started being delivered; there's a real concern about it. It's a concern we share."
As of January 1, 2026, Circular Materials, a national not-for-profit organization, will be 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.
Homes across Windsor-Essex have already started to receive a new 95-gallon automated cart, but old bins, including Herby Curby bins, will no longer be collected once the new system starts.
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.
Leether says the city has always accepted the Herby Curby or cart-style bins, and he plans to use his in another way.
"I'm personally going to reuse one of my blue bins as a yard waste bin at my home; I think it's a great use of it," he says. "It certainly beats throwing it out; I spent $200 on it.
"I'm going to spray paint a big YW on the side of mine in yellow. I would spray paint a G on the side for garbage or W for waste, if you will. Something they can denote. My wife suggested I spray paint the lid so the collectors would know," he says.
Herby Curby has been making waste bins for the region for 40 years. The company is calling for its bins to be included in the blue bin program from Circular Materials.
The company said its hydraulic-lift bins work just like the new ones, and by accepting them into the program, it would support local jobs and offer more flexibility for residents.