Opinion | Why should Toronto pay for Ford’s latest unforced error? - Toronto Star

The province changed our recycling program, so the province ought to fix it.

Under proposed changes to Ontario’s Blue Box program, environmentalists fear less household waste will end up being recycled.

Mike Layton is the Toronto city councillor for Ward 11, University–Rosedale.

For decades, Torontonians rinsed the jar, flattened the box and hauled the blue bin to the curb. Most of us never gave it a second thought. It just worked.

Then, in 2025, Queen’s Park took recycling away from cities and handed it to the companies that make the packaging. We were promised better and cheaper service with producers running it and paying for it. Many of us warned that putting the packaging industry in charge of cleaning up its own products would not end well. Turns out it didn’t.

This week, the Ford government proposed to reduce the number of items eligible for the blue box and to stop collecting bags of recycling or bundles of cardboard. The province also won’t give you an extra recycling bin — yes, the box from that IKEA furniture set could end up in your garbage.

For households, this means overflowing garbage bins and extra fees. For municipalities, it means costs for garbage collection will be higher, and our landfills will run out of space sooner. As for the companies that produce the waste? They’re off the hook for the cost of collection.

The province is considering eliminating pickup for flexible plastics and overflow recycling, including bundled items. Some worry more recycling