On Campus Recycling

You may have heard that as of January 1, 2026, all municipalities in Ontario have transitioned to a standardized list of recyclable materials. In many cases, this expands the items that households can place in their Blue Boxes.

Why campus recycling differs from Ontario’s new Blue Box System

Mohawk College’s campus recycling system is different. The college utilizes a privately managed waste program. Currently, new items listed by the province’s system cannot be recycled in campus bins, such as coffee cups, black plastics, Styrofoam, laminate paper plates, snack wrappers, and chip bags.

Please continue to follow the current campus recycling guidelines to help avoid contamination.

We know the provincial residential change may cause confusion, and we’re committed to making recycling on campus as easy and consistent as possible. Mohawk College’s Sustainability and Facilities teams are exploring future alignment with the new provincial system and will share updates as they become available.

Thank you for helping keep our recycling streams clean and ensuring as many items as possible are properly recycled.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Paul Dalgleish at paul.dalgleish@mohawkcollege.ca or the Sustainability Office at sustainability@mohawkcollege.ca.