Starting Jan. 1, a lot more can be recycled in Quebec.

Items once deemed non-recyclable, like chip bags and yogurt cups, are now eligible for the recycling bin.

The change comes as producers take over the management of the province’s recycling program.

Here’s a breakdown of what’s changing in 2025, and whether it will help address the province’s growing waste problem.

What can be recycled

For residents, the main difference is that more items can be recycled. All containers, packaging material or printed items are now eligible for recycling. That includes all kinds of plastics, as well as cardboard, paper and glass.

“You just put it in the bin, and that’s it,” said Marie-Claude Rivet, a spokesperson for Éco Entreprises Québec (EEQ), a non-profit representing producers, which will now manage recycling across the province.

There are three exceptions to the new rule: aerosol cans, polystyrene packaging and compostable bags.

The items don’t need to be “shiny clean” to be eligible to be recycled. But a peanut butter jar, for instance, should be cleaned and rinsed before being put in the bin, Rivet said.

If a pizza box has a few grease stains, that’s also eligible — but if it’s covered in tomato sauce, then no, she said.

“People wont have to ask themselves, ‘Can I put this container in the recycling if it’s plastic number one or two or three?'” said Karel Ménard, head of Quebec Coalition for Ecological Waste Management.

WATCH | A breakdown of what’s changing Jan. 1: 

Glass can also be put in the recycling bin, although EEQ could eventually set up a separate collection system to make it easier to recycle. As it stands, much of the province’s glass ends up in landfills.

Ménard said compostable bags are also a problem. In fact, they are a misnomer, since they are “not compostable like a banana or tomato, and it is not really plastic so it cannot be recycled like plastic. So it is a false good idea.”

Who’s in charge?

Under the system, EEQ will be responsible for all curbside recycling. The organization represents businesses that sell containers, packaging and printed paper in Quebec.

Businesses will foot the bill for recycling costs – and be charged higher fees for products that aren’t deemed eco-friendly.

They’ll also be encouraged to reduce packaging weight, use single-material containers and avoid over-packaging.

The change has been in the works since 2020. Ménard said the new system will incentivize companies to cut down on material that can’t be recycled to avoid those costs.

Will it actually work?

Quebec’s recycling system has been riddled with problems for years, with sorted materials found to have high contamination levels. Containers of contaminated recycling material have turned up overseas.

The amount of waste produced by Quebecers, meanwhile, continues to grow.

Experts including Ménard believe the new model is a better fit, because it puts the onus on producers and will allow more items to potentially be recycled.

“Now, more than 50 per cent of recycled material goes into the garbage in our houses, so we hope with this new program, it will change,” Ménard said.

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Rivet acknowledged not all items that can now go into the recycling bin will be recycled. However, she said “it’s important to put them in the bin anyway, because it’s the best way to increase the volumes and to help to develop the markets for these materials.”

EEQ is also mandated to provide the Quebec government with regular updates to determine whether the system is working.

“We will have to give reports to the government to show that we are reaching the targets,” Rivet said.

She added that EEQ is obliged to make sure the material is recycled “either on the territory of the province of Quebec, or at least neighbouring provinces or [U.S.] states.”