Hamilton City Council will vote in July to determine if the City of Hamilton will provide municipal recycling services to non-residential properties such as for-profit long-term care homes, businesses, and places of worship.
Capacity in the City’s landfill in Glanbrook will be a key consideration in the decision – would there be a decrease in recycling if the City does not act, and would this lessen the expected lifespan of the landfill?
The Province of Ontario is transitioning to a province-wide recycling service that is fully funded and operated by recycling material producers.
On April 1st, Circular Materials took responsibility for recycling collection in Hamilton. They maintained the existing City of Hamilton contracts with GFL for collection.
No changes are being made to collection dates or materials accepted during the transition period between April 1 and December 31.
On January 1, new province-wide collection rules will be in effect.
Non-Eligible Properties
Non-residential properties presently provided service by the City of Hamilton will no longer receive pick-up on January 1.
Council is scheduled to debate on July 7 whether the City will create a collection service for these properties.
Community Recycling Centres
Following this, in September, the Council will debate whether to continue operating community recycling centres to permit the drop-off of bulk amounts of recycling, large items, and electronic waste.
Preserving Capacity at Glanbrook Landfill Key Issue
Hamilton’s municipal landfill is estimated to have another 34 years of remaining capacity. This estimate will decrease if recyclable materials are not diverted.
Councillor Mark Tadeson asked about this issue at Monday’s Council Waste Management Sub-Committee.
“One of the questions that I asked was if our tonnage goes up because they’re not collecting as much in the blue boxes, what actions is the city going to take in terms of the landfill site and so forth?”
The response was that the City would have to wait to see what Circular Materials decides to include and exclude in the new recycling program. Staff noted that CM will take black and dark plastics, which the City’s current recycling program does not accept. However, books will no longer be accepted.
6700 tonnes of contaminated [mixed with food waste etc] recycling materials are sent to the City’s landfill annually. CM will be responsible for finding its own landfill locations for contaminated recycling waste.
The costs and regulatory restrictions to create a new landfill are burdensome.
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Published: May 6, 2025
Last updated: May 6, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
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