The City of Toronto is now accepting plastic bags in curbside blue-boxes.
Starting Monday, any ordinary plastic shopping bag, such as those from grocery stores and some clothing stores, are recyclable.
But bags with embellishments such as drawstring handles won't be accepted, Mike Gorman, a customer service agent with the city, told ctvtoronto.ca on Monday.
The new program will help keep plastic bags out of landfills.
Also newly recyclable in the city are various polystyrene containers, such as coffee cups, raw meat trays and fast-food takeout containers. Styrofoam is a popular brand polystyrene.
It is still acceptable to use the giveaway plastic shopping bags to line green bins designated for organic scraps, Gorman said.
But the city is encouraging residents not to line their new covered waste carts with traditional large green or black garbage bags because those bags will end up in landfills. Gorman said new garbage carts don't have to be lined whatsoever, since city staff now dump the entire cart's contents into their trucks.
However, one large bag is preferable to several smaller bags. Residents who collect several small bags should place them all inside one large bag. It keeps the small bags from "flying around," Gorman said.
Earlier last week, Toronto council voted in favour of enforcing a $0.05 charge for plastic shopping bags at grocery stores effective June, 1, 2009. The waste-management plan also prohibits the sales plastic water bottles and non-recyclable food containers in civic centres. By 2011, restaurants will also be forced to use only recyclable take-out containers.
