South Frontenac Recycling Is A Masterclass In Mismanagement

Shane Peters | Jul 10, 2025

South Frontenac’s Recycling Overhaul Is a Masterclass in Mismanagement

By Shane Peters
On July 1, 2025, South Frontenac residents will be forced into a new provincial recycling system—one that’s already showing serious cracks and confusion before it even begins. What was once a straightforward, reliable curbside recycling program operated by the Township is now being offloaded to private corporations under the Province of Ontario’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework.
Unfortunately, this “transition” is shaping up to be nothing short of a disaster.
A Change No One Asked For
For years, residents could set out their garbage and recycling on the same day, knowing exactly what to do and when to do it. Come July, that simplicity is gone. The Province’s decision to remove municipalities from recycling services means Circular Materials Ontario (CMO) now oversees the program. Emterra Group, their contracted collector, is responsible for actually picking up the materials.
Yet, less than a month before the switch, Emterra has told residents that they still don’t know what day recycling will be picked up. According to an email I received from them: “Your recycle day may change from its previous collection day. Days have not been confirmed as yet.”This is not just an inconvenience—it’s an example of disorganization and poor planning at the provincial level. We are expected to adapt to a system no one seems ready to operate.
Two Collection Days, More Landfill Waste
One of the most concerning aspects of this new arrangement is the split between garbage and recycling days. The Township still collects garbage, and they’re sticking to their original schedule. Recycling, on the other hand, will now be picked up by Emterra on a separate, as-yet-undetermined day.0
This disconnect will inevitably result in more recyclables ending up in the garbage. People will forget, get confused, or simply won’t have the time or motivation to haul bins to the roadside twice a week. When recycling becomes harder than tossing something in the trash, we all know what happens next.
That’s not environmental progress. That’s regression.
No Depots, No Backup Plan
For those living in rural areas, especially where curbside service may not be available or consistent, drop-off depots have been a critical option. But according to the Township, the continued operation of these depots past 2025 is entirely up to CMO’s discretion.
If curbside becomes unreliable and depots disappear, many residents will have no practical option to recycle at all. This undermines decades of progress in waste diversion.
Accountability Vacuum
When residents raise these concerns with Emterra, they’re referred back to the “City”—which, in South Frontenac, means the Township. The same Township that has been stripped of its authority over recycling by the Province. It’s an absurd cycle of blame where no one has answers, and the people most affected are left holding the bag—literally.
And while residents scramble for clarity, our local Member of Provincial Parliament, John Jordan, remains silent. Multiple attempts to contact his office have gone unanswered. For an MPP who represents a riding now struggling under a provincial mandate, this silence is troubling.

A System Destined to Fail?

This EPR program was supposed to make producers accountable for packaging waste. But what we’re seeing is a poorly communicated, bureaucratically distant, and locally disconnected approach. There’s no flexibility, no contingency planning, and no meaningful public engagement.

If this is the future of recycling in Ontario, we should all be concerned.

It’s not too late to fix this—but it starts with accountability, transparency, and a willingness by the Province to listen to the people most affected by its decisions. Until then, residents will be left trying to make sense of a system that seems determined to confuse them—and landfill volumes may rise as a result.

South Frontenac deserves better.