As of June 1, if you put plastic bags in your blue box, collectors will not pick up your recycling.
That is the warning from the Essex Windsor Solid Waste Authority.
Not just plastic bags, but plastic wrap and food pouches are banned too.
"The collector does not have time to sort at the curbside. That is not how the program is set up," said Manager of Waste Diversion, Cathy Copot-Nepszy. "The onus is on the resident to follow the criteria of the program."
She told BlackburnNews.com the authority ends up with a lot of items that are not recyclable, but the plastic bags are the worst.
"It's like any typical manufacturing plant. When the material comes in, it goes through conveyor systems, and screens, and different sorts of equipment like that. Those bags can wrap around gears. They can cause jams," she said. "They also take time away from our sorters."
The sorters have to open each bag individually. Inside, they often find garbage.
The move also comes after changes in the market place in 2018. She said the authority and the City of Windsor realized it had to do a better job keeping non-recyclable items out of the blue and red boxes.
"Often in our container plant we get fibre material, and vice versa in our fibre plant we'll see container material," she explained. "In the fibre plant, we'll get wood because people think maybe we shred it and pulp it, but we don't do all of that."
First, there will be a public awareness campaign called "No Plastic Bags... Period."
"Starting in March all the way to June, we're going to have a massive outreach campaign educating people. We're going to have other supports in place, videos, sales on our recyclable containers in case people need them," said Copot-Nepszy.
