The future of Herby Curby, a Windsor-based waste bin manufacturer, is uncertain as Windsor-Essex is set to shift to a new recycling system next year.
Effective Jan. 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 the region 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.
A spokesperson for Circular Materials said they spoke with the local recycling collection contractor, GFL Environmental, who confirmed the bins purchased under the previous program are not compatible with the new cart collection system.
Speaking on AM800's Live and Local with Kyle Horner, Charlotte Coates, a representative for Herby Curby said their bins are the same bin that's currently being distributed.
"It comes from the exact same mould, from the exact same manufacturer, everything is the exact same. So my question, that I still don't have answers that I've been trying to an answer for two-weeks is how can they say that when it's the exact same bin," Coates said.
Coates said Herby Curby has reached out to Circular Materials for discussions but were given a 'blanket reply' that the bins were not compatible with the new system.
She said the point of recycling was to keep recyclables out of the landfill.
"The fact that the majority of our customers have between two and four roll carts on their property already, that they put out bi-weekly, if they're only going to collect the one bin, where's those other one to three bins worth of recyclables going to end up, in the landfill," Coates said.
An online petition was also created, and has gained around 2,000 signatures.
"I wanted to show that the community is standing behind us to because we've been servicing this community for the last 40 years," Coates said.
According to Coates, Herby Curby operates with four staff and the business of selling and renting out bins is their bread and butter.