Northumberland County’s two-year contract with Circular Materials Ontario to extend its current recycling program until the end of 2025 went into effect on Monday, Jan. 1. 

The County initiated the contract in response to the forthcoming province-wide transition of responsibility for the recycling system, where municipalities and First Nations will transfer over their responsibilities for the Blue Box program to the producers of packaging and paper products. Provincial plans for the transition to ‘Producer Responsibility’ are to be fully implemented by 2026.

Adam McCue, the County’s associate director of operations for public works, explains the change.

CMO will look after the responsibilities of the producers who generate the packaging and will continue to provide curbside pickup of recycling materials, McCue said.

Another change begins this Friday as Emterra Environmental will take ownership of the County’s Material Recovery Facility in Grafton. The sale was also in anticipation of the provincial transition to produce responsibility and the County announced a conditional offer of purchase from Emterra last March.