As part of the province’s Extended Producer Responsibility program, the City of Lethbridge is excited to announce an expanded list of household recyclables.
Starting Thursday, residents will have more flexibility with how they recycle at home and at recycling stations.
Collections Manager for Waste and Environment James Nicholls said this is great news for Lethbridge and its curbside blue cart program.
“We’re excited to see a lot of those items previously not accepted make their way into our blue carts. It gives Lethbridge residents more opportunities to divert waste from our landfill,” Nicholls added.
Along with items already accepted, residents will be able to use their blue carts to recycle:
- Glass
- Stretchy plastics (plastic bags, film, cling wrap)
- Paper laminates (to-go cups, pet food bags, ice cream containers)
- Mixed packaging (snack wrappers, potato chip bags, toothpaste tubes, deodorant sticks)
- Polystyrene (more commonly known as Styrofoam)
- Aerosol containers (food spray, hairspray, air fresheners, shaving cream, deodorant)
This expansion of acceptable recyclables is a significant milestone and reflects the positive impact of Alberta’s EPR framework, noted General Manager Mandi Parker. “By making recycling simpler and more accessible, we can recover more materials, divert more waste from the landfill, and continue building a more sustainable community. We appreciate the partnership of residents, producers, and service providers in helping make this transition a success.”
If you notice your blue cart starting to fill up more quickly, you can take larger recyclables and overflow to any of the City’s three self-service recycling stations.
The north, south, and west stations are open 24/7 and accept residential recycling only. Recyclables no longer need to be sorted into separate containers.
