Since 1 January 2025, Éco Entreprise Québec (ÉEQ) has been responsible for the selective collection system for the whole of Quebec, and is managing the modernisation of the system for collecting and processing recyclable materials. You may have heard Éco Entreprise Québec advertisements on radio or television recently, listing the materials accepted in the blue bin: “containers, packaging, printed matter – that’s it!”
So, from 1 January 2025, any container, packaging or printed matter made of plastic, paper/cardboard, glass or metal will go in the blue recycling bin! This includes all flexible plastic bags and packaging (whether or not they stretch), and all rigid plastic containers (no.1 to no.7)
- Containers: these generally come with a cap or lid
- Packaging: used to easily transport a product
- Printed matter: paper and other fibres with text, patterns or images
Exceptions not to be put in the recycling bin
Aerosol containers: to the ecocentre
- All containers, whether empty or not, marked with an explosive, flammable, toxic, corrosive or other symbol, must never be placed out for door-to-door collection. If it’s dangerous for you at home, it’s also dangerous for collection and sorting centre employees.
Polystyrene (Styrofoam) protective packaging: at the ecocentre
- This packaging easily breaks up into balls, contaminating the sorting lines and other materials to be recycled.
Degradable plastic containers and packaging: in the rubbish
- Containers and packaging marked ‘biodegradable’, ‘PLA’, ‘oxodegradable’ or ‘compostable’ are not accepted in the recycling bin or with food waste.
About the modernisation of selective collection
The modernization of selective collection, piloted by Éco Entreprises Québec (ÉEQ), aims to improve the efficiency and quality of sorting recyclable materials. This province-wide initiative aims to make the collection system more efficient, increase the recycling rate and reduce the contamination of recyclable materials.
ÉEQ has launched the Bac Impact initiative to raise awareness and educate the public about the importance of sorting recyclable materials at source, and to put an end to the grey areas when it comes to determining what does and does not go in the recycling bin.
With a single, simplified and standardised list of recovered materials for the whole of Quebec, there will be greater volumes and the consolidation of these batches of materials will ultimately make it possible to develop markets for recycling them.