Ottawa's expanded list of recyclables kicks in Jan. 1

Coffee cups are among the previously ineligible items Ottawa residents can toss into their blue bins starting Thursday.

A number of changes to the city's recycling program will take effect Jan. 1, as Ontario moves toward a new provincewide recycling system. Some of those are more behind-the-scenes in nature, while others will affect homeowners directly.

Most notably, the list of recyclable items allowed in blue bins in Ottawa (and all other communities across the province) now includes coffee cups, deodorant, toothpaste tubes, ice cream tubs, black plastic containers and frozen juice containers.

This diagram offers a handy guide to what Ottawa residents can now toss into their blue and black bins:

Here's what else you need to know about the recycling changes coming into effect this week.

What else is changing

Outside of the expanded list of recyclables, the biggest change Ottawa homeowners will notice is that a company called Miller Waste Services — not the City of Ottawa — will be emptying their blue and black bins into a truck.

Miller Waste Services is under contract to Circular Materials, the group tapped by the Ontario government to manage the province's recycling system.

Collection by Miller Waste Services might occur at a different time of day than people were used to under the City of Ottawa, the city has warned residents.

Allen Langdon, CEO of Circular Materials, told CBC's Ottawa Morning that if people experience an issue, they can phone Miller Waste, and if there's a "need for escalation," they can reach out to Circular Materials.

Contact information for both groups can be found here.

One critic is doubtful that shifting services away from the city is the right move.

"When we create things locally, we run things locally. We have local accountability, we can make local innovation, we can make local improvements," said Angela Keller-Herzog, executive director of Community Associations for Environmental Sustainability. "So I'm a skeptic whether this [new] program is going to serve us as well."

Circular Materials was founded by 17 of Canada’s "leading food, beverage and consumer products manufacturers, restaurants and retailers," including Coca-Cola Canada, McDonald's and Loblaw Companies Limited, according to the company's website.

• Let us know how the first collection under the new system goes for you. Contact Guy at guy.quenneville@cbc.ca

Every year, those companies will report to Circular Materials on the amount of packaging "they supply into the marketplace," then pay fees based on those amounts and types, Langdon said.

"There's now an incentive to reduce because if they reduce the packaging, they'll pay [fewer] fees and have [lower costs] for supporting the blue box program," Langdon said.

What isn't changing

The City of Ottawa will continue to pick up recyclables from public spaces and municipal buildings.

The city will also continue to handle garbage and organics.

Schools, plus multi-residential buildings built after Jan. 1 that contain six or more units, won't be eligible to join the provincial recycling program until 2031.

Homeowners can keep using their existing blue and black bins. If they need a new one, they're to call Miller Waste. There's no charge for the new bin.

The bins should still be placed at the curb by 7 a.m. on collection day.