“Is this recyclable?” is a familiar question for most people in Canada, but — as you have probably already discovered — the answer isn’t always obvious. For one thing, most people don’t know what happens to the bottles, cans, and cardboard that go into their municipal recycling truck after collection day (the sad truth is that, for a variety of reasons, a lot of it ends up in the landfill). For another, recycling is an extremely complicated undertaking that’s vulnerable to market demands as well as changing global economic and political conditions. That makes figuring out what goes where more complicated than it ought to be. It also means that despite our best efforts, a lot of theoretically recyclable material (including about 90% of plastic) is not recycled. 

Whether you care about giving your water bottle a new life as a fleece jacket or just want to avoid having your bin rejected on recycling day, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the best practices in your municipality. Here’s a guide to the rules in some of Canada’s biggest cities.

Vancouver (and most of B.C.)

Residential post-consumer recycling in British Columbia is handled by Recycle BC, a not-for-profit organization established in 2014. To help people navigate the agency’s somewhat complicated system, Recycle BC distributes a comprehensive how-to guide and offers a downloadable Waste Wizard app. This can help residents to determine what goes in the recycling bin (coffee cups, milk cartons, empty tin cans), what goes out with bundled paper (paper stationery and cardboard egg cartons, but not old paperback books or parchment paper), and what you need to take to a dedicated drop-off site (shrink wrap, bubble wrap, and styrofoam takeout containers). 

Calgary 

Like many Canadian cities, Calgary operates a three-bin system (blue for recyclables, green for compostables, and black for landfill.) While this eliminates the need for residents to judiciously sort their recyclables into sub-categories, it also creates much more opportunity for contamination — the scourge of industrial recyclers everywhere. To keep contamination at a minimum, the city offers several downloadable guides and a handy What Goes Where search tool on its website. While Calgary’s recycling system accepts most kinds of containers (glass, tin, foil, and plastics number 1-7) it isn’t as accommodating for lids, accepting only metal lids larger than 5 cm in diameter and plastic lids larger than 7.5 cm in diameter. Like most municipalities, Calgary advises residents to clean the food off their recyclables before binning them. 

Toronto

While Canada’s biggest city has struggled to keep raccoons from raiding its green bins, it has a relatively comprehensive recycling program and a Waste Wizard app to assist residents in navigating it. Like every recycling system, however, it has its eccentricities. You can recycle a glass jar and its lid, for example, but the lid needs to be screwed on (and the jar needs to be clean). The city also accepts a wide range of plastic packaging, including resealable sandwich bags, but strictly forbids anything made of black plastic or those standup plastic pouches coffee sometimes comes in. Speaking of which, as of 2024, the city also accepts single-use hot and cold beverage cups. 

Montreal (and most of Québec)

Even veteran Montrealers might require a refresher course on the city’s recycling policy, thanks to a new system introduced in January 2025. The system is run by Éco Entreprises Québec (EEQ), a non-profit representing producers (i.e. the folks who make packaging and paper products) and its aim is to reduce waste by making things simpler for residents. Previous blue bin no-nos like chip bags and yogurt cups are now fair game, as are just about any other kind of paper or plastic packaging (provided it’s relatively clean and free of food residue.) The only exceptions are aerosol cans, polystyrene packaging (recycling symbol 6), and plant-based “compostable” bags.

Halifax

Atlantic Canada’s largest municipality doesn’t use a bin system, asking its residents to instead place their recyclables in clear plastic bags on the curb. It also requires recyclables to be divided into separate bags for paper products and containers, with corrugated cardboard bundled separately. Like most big cities, Halifax provides a free app that can answer common questions about recyclables, like for instance, “Can I recycle a tissue box?” (The answer is yes — provided you remove the plastic liner.) All of the other main recyclables, including most kinds of paper and containers, are accounted for, with some notable exceptions. Unlike some other jurisdictions, single-use coffee cups and lids can’t be recycled here, and neither can container lids.

Jeremy Freed is a freelance writer and editor based in Toronto. His writing about fashion, travel, food and design appears in Sharp, Harry and re:Porter magazines, among many others. 

Jeremy Freed is a paid spokesperson of Sonnet Insurance.