Toronto clamshell recycling moves forward

Toronto clamshell recycling moves forward

By Editorial Staff, Resource Recycling

Toronto residents can now recycle PET clamshell containers, following a pilot study at the city's Dufferin Materials Recovery Facility.

Dufferin MRF, which handles approximately half of the city's solid waste, sorted rigid clamshell containers, bakery trays and egg cartons from the commingled stream over the course of the past year, in an effort to assess the feasibility of accepting the containers as part of Toronto's Blue Bin [1] recycling collection program.

Even with the year-long pilot program, the collection of clamshells, trays and cartons had to be delayed while the city searched for a purchaser for collected material. Dufferin will continue to take curbside material under the new arrangement, and a new plastic recycling plant will be constructed in the city next March to handle the additional volume.

Toronto is just the third Canadian city, after Ottawa and Calgary, to offer curbside recycling for clamshell containers.

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