Recycling

Non-refundables: There is a new, temporary Recycling Depot is now open at the Waste Management Facility (Mile 919.72 on the Alaska Highway, which is 3.5 km north of the Two Mile Hill and Alaska Highway intersection). The drop-off fee is $1 per bag, container, or equivalent up to 90 litres in volume.

Refundables: If you want to receive money for your refundables (e.g., bottles, cans, milk jugs, etc.) you can take them to a private Beverage Container Depot (e.g., P&M Recycling, Raven ReCentre).

At the City’s Recycling Depot, the drop-off fee is $1 per 90 litre bag or equivalent size container.

Residences that are eligible for Curbside Collection will be charged $12.50 per month for the service. The total cost to provide the service is $25 per month, with half of the cost covered by funding from the Government of Yukon.

Dealing with recycling was never “free”. It has always cost money to collect, process and transport to southern markets. Existing recycling depots (e.g., Raven ReCentre and P&M recycling) have received subsidies from the City of Whitehorse and the Government of Yukon to cover some of the costs of processing recycling. The City is working hard to ensure recycling services are as affordable as possible for residents.

As per the City’s Waste Management Bylaw (2018-05), waste services are provided on a cost-recovery basis, which means that fees need to be collected from users – i.e., residents – to cover the cost of the service. This is why you pay a fee to take garbage to the landfill, or pay for curbside waste pickup as part of your municipal services bill. Waste services fees are not paid through taxes or when you purchase a product. Unless it is part of the refundable program, for which you can receive money back if you bring them to a Beverage Container Depot.

The vast majority of diversion credits that went to private recycling services came from the Government of Yukon. The Government of Yukon is subsidizing the City’s new curbside recycling program, reducing the cost for individual households from $25 per month to $12.50 per month.

The City of Whitehorse has a diversion credit program of $150,000 per year that is distributed to recycling processors on a quarterly basis.  This program is still in existence and supports local recycling organizations.

While the quantity of material may differ from residence to residence depending on the occupancy, the cost is determined by operating a curbside collection service to all eligible residences. It would be nearly impossible to determine costs of collection service per household based on occupancy of a residence.

Yes, space to store and sort recycling was one of the reasons why the City chose to use stackable blue bins for this curbside recycling program and not an additional 240L cart.

If you are currently receiving Curbside Collection – i.e., you have a black cart for garbage and a green cart for compost – you will have received two blue bins and two yellow bags for Curbside Recycling Collection. Find the Residential Curbside Recycling Schedule here and the Curbside Recycling Guide here.

No. If you are currently eligible for Curbside Collection – i.e., you have a black cart for garbage and a green cart for compost – then you will automatically receive curbside recycling service. Curbside recycling collection (just like black and green cart collection) is a mandatory service.

If your blue bins or yellow bags are damaged and need replacing, please reach out to [email protected] to request new ones.

For extra mixed containers, please use similar-sized box or bin.

For mixed paper or cardboard overflow, neatly stack excess next to, between, or underneath your other recycling.

Please don’t use bags, soft plastics cannot be recycled.

Not necessarily—please check the Recycling Collection Calendar to see when curbside pickup is in your area.

Curbside recycling pickup is a separate service from waste and organics pick up. We have attempted to synchronize recycling pickup with existing collections as much as possible, but these are separate programs with different collection methods, so we’ve had to break up some of the larger neighbourhoods and adjust the schedule to accommodate this.

No, curbside recycling is only available for residences that are currently receiving our Curbside Collection service.

Multi-unit dwellings can drop off recycling at the Recycling Depot at the Waste Management Facility, or use a private recycling collection service.

Yes, small businesses can use the new Recycling Depot at the Waste Management Facility.

Here “small business” means a business that uses a similar quantity and type of materials in the (packaging and paper products) as a single-family residential household. This definition is consistent with the definition used by the Yukon’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulation. Find more about EPR here.

On any given trip to the depot, a small business is allowed to bring a similar quantity and type of materials in the (packaging and paper products) as a single-family residential household. On average, this would equal four 90 litre bags or approximately half of a pick-up truck.

Larger commercial businesses are not eligible to use this service and need to use private recycling services, similar to how the City of Whitehorse does not provide waste services to commercial businesses.