As the new blue bins begin to arrive this week to households across Aurora, I’ve been hearing from many residents — and I completely understand your frustration. The new bins are larger, harder to manage, and in many cases don’t fit in garages or storage areas.
I want to be clear: this change was not made by the Town of Aurora.
The new bins are part of a Province of Ontario initiative under what’s called the producer-responsibility system. This means that private producers — not municipalities — are now responsible for recycling and collection programs across the province.
Town staff have been trying to work with Circular Materials (CM) — the non-profit organization responsible for overseeing Ontario’s new common collection system — which will manage Blue Box material collection from homes, residential buildings, and residential areas of mixed-use properties, for over a year.
Unfortunately, throughout this process, CM has provided limited responses to questions raised by both staff and municipalities. After months of uncertainty, they have rolled out a plan without offering municipalities or residents any alternative options in the northern six municipalities of York Region.
That said, I share your concerns — particularly for seniors, those with accessibility challenges, and residents in smaller homes or townhouses where storage space is limited.
To try and address these issues, I’ve been in contact with my colleagues from the northern six York Region municipalities, and we’ll be meeting as soon as possible with executives from GFL to discuss what can be done. We’ll be exploring whether there are alternative options or solutions that better meet the needs of our residents.
Once that meeting takes place, I’ll be providing an update to the community with any next steps or possible outcomes.
In the meantime, please continue to share your feedback. It helps strengthen our collective voice and ensures that local concerns are heard — because while this is a provincial program, it directly impacts our community here in Aurora.
Together, we’ll continue to advocate for practical, common-sense solutions that work for everyone.
76 Responses
While we have not received our new blue bin, we are very concerned about the size of it and where it will be stored. We live in a lovely gated townhome community and there is certainly no space for such units outside our homes. Will our cars fit in the garage once these arrive? We see no need for something so large. We have 2 blue bins but have never needed the second one although it can be placed on supports on the wall in our garage if needed. We picture the new plan as unsightly.
Thanks for advocating for the residents of Aurora Tom, and as you mentioned – working with the other municipalities. As you know from past initiatives, there’s power in collaboration and numbers in creating results.
Perhaps it’s time for a more aggressive collaboration effort- with a deadline- if this entity CM continues to ignore the elected representatives of the people – and not respond. Thank you.
Non profit? You don’t make a move like this if its not fir profit. Total disregard for the citizens and total regard fir bottom line. Mandated without any consideration and shoved down our throats.
The large blue /garbage bins have been used for 15+ yrs in Toronto and everyone has adjusted. They’re certainly not a pretty site.
Yes, change is hard.
I know in some areas in the province families have been asked what size bin they’d prefer.
Will the residents of Aurora have that same opportunity to decide what size bin would best suit their individual household needs?
Apparently not, it’s one size fits all, regardless of how much space you have or how many family members you have.
What? Another frustration?
During summer, I can park this gigantic blue box in my one car garage. But from November 15 to April 15, I must park my car in the garage and my wife’s car in the driveway. No room for the monster blue box. And what about garbage and composting bins….?
The new Blue Bin will take up too much space in my small garage since we have to park our car in there during the winter. The old bin was fine.
What do we do with the old blue bins? Does anyone recycle them?
Town of Aurora website says repurpose them for storage; no suggestion of taking them back https://www.aurora.ca/bluebox
Check the FAQ section near the bottom of the page
I appreciate the efforts being made to find a solution. The lack of size choice (even if the resident choses to buy an alternatively sized bin) is baffling. This seems to be result of implementing a system run by the producers – little to no accountability.
Since I use my garage for its original intent, i.e. to park my cars, there wil be no room in it for this new bin. So, like thousands of other residents, I will have to adorn my front yard with it, creating not only an eyesore, but the need to put on a coat and shovel snow , simply to deposit waste in it.
The goals of this initiative do not appear to have taken residents’ opinions or the sheer practicality of it into acount.
I think you are going to see more people who have minimal recyclables just putting everything in regular garbage pickup. We have two cars…also always parked in the garage. I’m a senior, and don’t (didn’t) like scraping the snow/ice off my car in the winter when I had my last child living with us. Can’t put the bin on the porch and I can’t park the bin on the side of the house…that’s where I blow my driveway snow to.
Small thin driveways, which is part of my neighbours small thin driveway, which are attached “TOWN HOMES”…. Only enough for 2 small vehicles, each…. When parked, the curb is encroached. No room left for the gigantic bin to be placed out with the criteria that the CFL needs for a pick up, as the bin cannot be in the street. These bins are just too impractical for residents with small frontalage. Nevermind the fact of elderly people with the size of the bins…… Oh ya….. What about winter, and snowbanks….. I could go on…….
I contacted the company, and they are picking up my bin. It’s simply too big for my little garage and the car. As a one-person household and a senior, I don’t need a bin this size. What will I do with my recycling? No idea at this point.
My new bin arrived yesterday. I had tried to remain open to this change, but the bin is SO incredibly large and difficult to manage, I do have to wonder who on earth designed this. It can not fit into my garage, unless I opt to not park my car inside. Which over the winter months is unreasonable. So now, like many other residents, I will need to locate a space outside to store this monstrosity! I know this isn’t a Town of Aurora decision, but it will effect most residents, and make the town more unattractive – since we will likely be seeing these bins on the sides of homes. My issue is with Circular Materials (CM). Who within this organization thought this was a good idea?!!?
As a long term resident of Aurora I have seen many changes to the yard waste, blue box and garbage pick up systems and this one takes the cake and definitely NOT positively. I don’t care who’s behind it ( passing the buck) Aurora residents are having these eyesore bins shoved down our throats without consultation or recourse. Next step from there would be a locally positioned dumpster expecting that we fill it. AND, pickup every two weeks to boot. Most weeks I can barely make one medium blue box so I am expected to store weeks worth before hauling the bin curbside in maybe a couple of feet of snow. Storage of this unsightly bin is another issue altogether given the raccoon population. Pushing 80 years of dealing with waste I am getting tired of the braintrust “improvements”. If it ain’t broke, Don’t fix it!!!!
Good morning Mr Mayor, If these bins become universal as proposed there is going to be a lot more garbage to pick up. Recycle material will go into the waste bins.
I would recommend a recyclable drop-off in different location for our Aurora resident. We already doing a drop off for dangerous products. I am sure it would work for recyclable also. This huge bin won’t fit in my garage and it would be an eye sore in our neighbourhood.
Best regards
Does that mean, i need to buy a car or a pickup truck.
I am a senior, female, widowed. This bin is not practical for use at my 100 year old home in downtown Aurora, as I do not have a garage, and do have a narrow single width driveway.
Besides , it just to big and awkward for me (76 yrs old) to maneuver.
I presently have to store my smaller blue bin in my basement, and pull it up the stairs, and glide it down my front steps. Tricky already. How is the new one going to work for me?
I will not use it. I will continue to put my recycle in the current bin, or put it all in the “garbage”.
Dilys Dowker
I fully agree. A 93 year old women who is mostly blind is supposed to navigate the ice and snow to get bin to curb and place it on uneven surface at end of drive that the town refuses to fix. Maybe more consideration should be taken when it comes to the seniors in the area. I see a lawsuit.
They won’t accept the old bins, so you have to put it in the garbage or find a recycling centre. Do we have one in Aurora? I’m having my bin picked up; it’s simply too big for a small property.
Hi Tom I don’t know who decided on this been what is enormous to fit on one house garage.
As far as I see that been will stay outside by my stairs no room inside the garage is to big and high.If somebody else decided than he will collect this been from outside.
Thank you
RonyLowy
Hi Mayor Tom,
I realize that you have limited ability to change the roll out to blue boxes and waste pick up as set out by the province however I do want it noted that I am very disappointed in changes re waste collection related to places of worship. Many churches are challenged just to fund keeping
their doors open. Many provide valuable community supports such
as meal programs clothing
programs for those in need ,
community out reach as well as
faith communities. The added cost
to places of worship may become
a hardship to many. The cost of
private waste pickup in relation to
their buget is significant. In many
cases the amount of waste
generated is tiny compared to a
large business. I truly wish this had
been thought out better by both
levels of government. Wishing you
all the best in your follow up.
I finally received a reply to my email to GFL inquiring as to how I was to manage with the new big blue bin since I currently have accommodated garbage and recycling pick up. This was their answer:
“Please be advised that if you are currently receiving an accommodation with regards to collection, there will be no changes with the new recycle collection. The drivers will collect and return your cart to the garage as they do currently.”
Unless we’re allowed to use a smaller bin, I don’t see any feasible solution:
– We have row housing, so it isn’t realistic to store a 95-gallon bin in the backyard and then bring it through the house on garbage day.
– It isn’t realistic to keep the bin permanently by the curb. The result would be an ugly streetscape with a blue bin every five metres.
– It isn’t realistic to keep the bin in the back of the garage. On garbage day, everyone will have to take their car out of the garage and park it somewhere else. This isn’t doable because we’re not allowed to park on the street and we have a very limited number of guest parking spots.
All of these problems will be doubled if 95-gallon bins are introduced for garbage pickup.
We have tried contacting the company that will now be in charge of blue bin pickup (Circular Materials), but they have not replied to our queries.
We have contacted our MPP, Dawn Gallagher-Murphy, and her assistant advised us to contact …. Circular Materials.
The best option would be to use a smaller bin size, like 35 gallons. A 35-gallon bin could be easily kept between the driveway and the front porch. Why is this solution not on the table?
I attended the open house, held to explain the new plan, but was unable to learn how this addresses the primary objections to the success of the blue box program. I understood that the Region’s biggest challenge was that the materials in them are contaminated and not useful for resale. Some time ago, a plastic bag with the newspaper still inside, would earn a ‘oops’ sticker and the whole bin would be left curbside. Now, they will not even see the content before dumping it into the truck only to find that it’s contaminated at the depot. Won’t we be in the same position but with bigger bins?
The idiot who suggested this for Aurora must live on the 10th floor of a condo.
I have decided that I shall no longer participate in recycling as this large bin is just too ridiculous to store and drag to the curb. Everything will go into the garbage now. Thanks to the moron(s) who made this decision and the lack of consultation with the residents of Aurora.
Mayor Mrakas,
I want to express my concern and disappointment regarding the recent decision about waste collection for not-for-profit institutions, including places of worship. We have been informed by two Aurora councillors that Town Council voted in favour of transferring the full cost of waste and recycling collection to these organizations.
Many churches in Aurora provide vital community services—such as weekly meals, outreach programs, and support for individuals and families in need. These efforts are often sustained through limited budgets and volunteer support. Requiring places of worship to cover the additional cost of waste collection will place a significant financial strain on already stretched resources, ultimately reducing our ability to serve the community effectively.
I would greatly appreciate further information about the rationale behind this decision, as well as whether there may be any opportunity for reconsideration or mitigation of these new costs for charitable organizations.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
A Big Ugly Blue Bin (BUBB) has just appeared on my driveway.
I live alone and never have enough recycling to come close to filling this thing.
I live on an inside townhouse with no side yard and no easy access to my back yard.
My garage has just effectively rendered my garage useless.
So, the options are:
a. Keep the BUBB outside of the front of my house, ruining the visual aesthetics of my property.
b. Keep my car in the driveway, which I not currently have to do, risking weather damage to my car.
c. Try and fit both the BUBB and my car in the garage risking damaging both my car and the bin.
I am being treated as a second-class citizen because don’t have a side yard to hide this BUBB.
And now the blame game begins, with the town blaming the Province and GFL.
Gee I wonder what would happen if hundreds of these bins suddenly appeared outside of the town hall. I guess we will never know as it is impossible to fit these BUBBs in a normal passenger vehicle. Maybe a BUBB parade to town hall is in order.
Oops. I meant to say: My Garage has effectively been rendered useless.
I love the new blue bin TOM. I am tired of filling up these small ones and sometimes i need two blue bins. CITY OF TORONTO had these long time ago. My parents loved them.
They just delivered our bins. They are humongous! It’s heavy in its own right let alone filled, it’s WAY oversized for a single senior and no way fits in the garage not even outside without blocking the garage door. In short they are ridiculous. Obviously not well thought out by those in charge of this program. Huge fail.
Is anyone interested in filing a class action lawsuit against the Province, the Region, the Town and GFL. My thinking is that Big Ugly Blue Bins (BUBBs’) represent a Private Nuisance: Whereby government actions create a “substantial and unreasonable interference” with a property owner’s use and enjoyment of their land, forming the basis of a nuisance claim. That is to say, the BUBBs’ interfere with the ability to park a vehicle in the garage and if placed out front (by necessity in a townhouse with no side yard), they are an eyesore. Both issues reduce both the enjoyment of the property and the value of the property. Thoughts anyone?
Whatever good for the town , not always good for the people!!!
Will be nice talk to people before they make this decision!!!
Thank you! This needs to be resolved. I have a townhome with no side yard and a car in the garage. This does not work for me. I hear Richmond Hill has their old bins. Why is that? So, we need to take this up with Doug Ford? Good luck. I’m curious if Toronto got the same bins.
My understanding is that 4 sizes are available, starting at 20 gallons. How did we get stuck with the 95 gallon extra-large bins?
If this initiative works, and industry starts producing less packaging, we’ll have less recycling, not more. So smaller bins would be most appropriate.
If industry is now paying for recycling removal, can we expect a reduction in our taxes?
I heard from my neighbour that Vaughan is keeping their system so why can’t we keep our system. It went to their Committee of the Whole today Nov. 5 2025 for approval.
Miller Waste Systems Inc. (Miller Waste) has been retained by Circular Materials Ontario ( Circular Materials) to collect blue box recycling in Vaughan starting January 1, 2026. No change to collection frequency, schedule or container type.
Can’t we make a deal with Vaughan or create one Waste Public Utility Corporation to ensure we all get the same deal in all the regions. Do they have better negotiators? This is not acceptable and I hope you are engaging with the Province!! Why are we getting the short end of the stick. Please continue to engage and hope to hear the good news soon similar to what Vaughan has achieved.
Thank you for addressing this. As seniors we find them heavy and very awkward to move and that was with them empty. We have limited room in our garage and they take up so much space our car will now need to be parked outside entailing snow clearing. At least when it snowed, the smaller ones could be carried to the curb for early pick up. Now are we expected to clear a path to the curb after a snowfall as this is on wheels and too heavy to pick up!? I contacted the company directly by email requesting that I still use the smaller container every two weeks but was refused and told they wouldn’t empty those. This will discourage recycling not improve it.
These things are ridiculous. There should be alternative options in some cases.
Tom
Thank you for your support in addressing our collective concerns about these ugly oversized blue bins. Anyone who has driven in Toronto can appreciate how unsightly these bins are. What’s next? A big ugly garbage bin as well?
We are lucky. We have a space to hide the blue bin that was literally just dropped on our property. I really feel for those who cannot hide these monstrous plastic beasts but are expected to haul them out to the street bi weekly.
The bins are too large and will be a safety issue! I live in a small townhouse neighbourhood, single car garages only and no sidewalks! We need to have the smallest size bin. I am totally against the large blue bins because not only are they unsightly and unable to be stored with a car in our garage, our children and seniors are at risk due to traffic issues! Think snow and ice! Let’s keep our communities safe and hazard free!
I agree with most of the above comments. This new blue bin is much too large for what most need. I have contacted CFL and asked them to pickup and return this huge blue bin and have opted out of blue bin collection services. Not my preferred choice, but I am not going to park my car in the driveway so I can store this monster in the garage ( a requirement for the townhouse complex we live in). We should be given an option for a much smaller blue bin. As a distant second option ( far from ideal) have blue box recycling depots around Aurora so we don’t need to drive 20 minutes to current recycling depots in Richmond Hill or New Market.
The new blue bin is far too large to store in my garage with my vehicles and other items. It is too tall to wheel between cars without bumping the side mirrors. It’s footprint is far larger than the old, reasonably sized blue bin. I understand this is a provincial program, nonetheless I am disappointed the Town of Aurora was not our advocate for a manageable bin size.
Just got the blue bin yesterday and it’s ridiculously large and tall. I will need to reorganize my garage to fit this monster! And even if it fits…I’m not confident I can maneuver it out of the garage without scratching my car. We’ve always done our part in recycling but if I cannot move this thing out of the garage easily…then everything might just go into the garbage.
MR Mayor
The size of this new blue box is Ridiculous!!
This will cause me marital strife.
My garage space is coveted by me.
The bin is too large and ugly to be left out front of the house says she!
What is this man to do?
Mike
I actually love the big bin, it works for our household needs. Although the size is quite big it saves on watching the recycling getting blown all over the town and contaminating the green spaces, saves on making multiple trips to placing the recycling for pickup, saves on having multiple blue bins that cover a good amount of the pickup curve. Even more now that the winter winds and cold are coming. Saves time on collecting the spill off the road if you where able to notice on time that your recycling was tipped by the wind and all its contents blew over to the road, neighbour’s etc.
It fit just fine in the corner townhome garage.
So sacrificing some space means less plastic spilling, cleaner areas for all of us and easier disposal it’s not a down side.
However if there can be adjustments to the program for seniors or smaller households who don’t require such a large bin that may save money and catter to the needs of the different size households residing in Aurora/Newmarket.
I live in a middle townhouse. I am a senior with 4 steps up to my front door. I am not dragging this thing up and down. This BUBB is rediculous for a single person! So now in the summer I’ll sit on my porch with it!! No one should have the right to tell me what size garbage can I need. Only I know that. My CAR just fits in my garage and no the BUBB will not go into it! Bradford was given a choice of what size they wanted. I want a choice if we even needed to do this! Save money!! Shrink the BUBB. For large families enjoy. For now on front lawn. After Dec. I guess I use the garbage to recycle. Thanks to this company for setting us all back in recycling! I want to recycle but that may have to change!! Good luck mayor!
Who were the York Region zealots responsible for making this decision for the town residence without consulting with us the taxpayer, and what was wrong with the previous program that was working? Just got our new giant blue bin delivered today! Where the heck do I put it? If I ran our business like this, I would loose most of my customers.
I live in Aurora and this new gigantic bin is a disaster. We live in a town house and park in the garage. We can only fit one car in the driveway because the side walk. Since we can’t park on the road in the winter we have no option.
This massive bin will now have start on the walk way to my house leaving myself and everyone to turn sideways to get into my house. This is going to cause people to just throw everything in the garage and throw this thing in the backyard.
I watched the worker drop off the bin in my driveway and then proceed to take an image of the top front of the bin with his iPhone camera. Each bin has a unique serial number.
Big Brother is watching. Is there going to be a camera on the pickup/disposal vehicle?
This gigantic new blue bin is well beyond my needs. One small blue bin already takes me 2 weeks to fill. It’s not like this big one takes more and a wider range of materials. It’s highly likely it’ll take up to 6 months for me to have stinky fish containers (boxes, tins) removed. Worse is the fact it won’t fit up my driveway unless I 1) dig out and install a wider section of sidewalk 2) remove my flowerbed, 3) pull my car out onto the street to make room for it to be rolled in. This leaves one final option: leave it at the bottom of my driveway creating an eyesore.
I cannot handle the new Giant blue box, the one I already have, takes me two or three weeks. I don’t have the space in my single garage. GFL should come and pick it up. A massive change such as this need consultation with the people impacted, directly.
Town of Aurora, please call a township wide meeting to finalize this.
They new carts are ridiculously big for the size of our homes on Mosaics Avenue; we don’t have any room to park them.
It would be really appreciated if you found a solution to solve this problem.
Regards,
Michelle
We have been quite diligent about recycling but until the 95 gal blue bin has been cancelled, we will just put recycles in garbage.
Our condominium unit has a single-car garage and driveway, small porches, and no side yards. There is simply no space to store these large bins.
Storing a bin in the garage would prevent us from parking our vehicle inside and our street has no legal parking. Storing the bin on the driveway or porch is not only unsightly but also a direct violation of our condominium corporation’s by-laws.
Given these severe physical and legal constraints, we have no viable way to store the bin. Therefore, if this is the only option provided, we will sadly be forced to stop recycling altogether.
To me, these bins look more like commercial size, like the ones you find on a construction site vs a residential size.
While the larger bins make sense from an efficiency in collection for GFL (via Circular Materials), possibly lowering the impact on the environment (less frequency of trucks = less carbon emissions) and perhaps from a financial impact for the Town with reduced pick-up frequency, I do however have a few concerns.
1/ With garage space at a premium (due to no Parking by-laws from Nov 15 – Apr 15), these bins will likely be placed outside, which of course can lead to:
– The look of the neighbourhood to be visually unappealing
– Potentially attracting more wildlife resulting in the potential increase of danger to the resident(s) because of the surprise interactions
2/ There is a greater risk of injury for the older residents, physically impaired and/or physically challenged individuals, to move these bins.
– The weight of the recyclables will be quite a bit more. The accumulation for 2 weeks plus placing all materials into one bin vs separate recycle boxes as we have now will make getting the bin to the curb much more difficult, especially in the winter season.
3/ Only materials that fit into the bin will be picked up. What happens if there is more and doesn’t fit? The pamphlet does not address this potential issue.
4/ Who will cover the cost of the bin if it gets damaged or stolen? I’m sure the cost of these bins will far exceed the replacement cost of a current Blue Bin. It could create hardship if replacement costs fall under the resident(s) responsibility. What happens then to the recyclable materials if the bin is not replaced? Does it find its way into the trash?
5/ The town and environment could be impacted with additional potential problems resulting from the points mentioned above.
– Recyclables finding their way into the trash, can’t or don’t want to deal with such a large bin
– Potential increase in costs due to increased time and weight of garbage disposal (pick-up) for the town (taxpayers)
6/ Based on the pamphlet that came with the bin, they are to be placed at least 3 feet in front or away from fences, vehicles, lamp posts and powerlines. Some residents may not be able to comply, i.e.
– Townhouses who back off onto a laneway
– Unable to have 3 feet of clearance from vehicles on single car driveways
– Tight small front lawns with electrical boxes, lamp posts, town planted trees and/or neighbours’ fences.
– Snow piles due to street plowing and driveway clearing
I understand a major reason is to prevent possible injuries to the workers (as noted on the pamphlet), the question is what about the health of the residents. Perhaps GFL should issue bins like the green bins we have with lid and wheels but slightly larger in the same material as the current blue boxes. Saving in weight and cost.
Due to the size and challenges of the large bin, I do think the smaller bins are still a better option. Easier to store (in the garage) and lighter to bring to the curb.
We are a 79+ couple in Aurora, why have we been given this humongous Blue bin, when we can hardly fill the smaller bin that we already have, Where am I going to park this, should I leave my car outside and keep this bin in the garage. How does one use tax payers taxes to do a favour IPL the plastic company that produced it. The Tax payer has elected the government to SERVE them not fleece them. You can take this back and regrind them and create jobs for the supplier and add more plastic to the environment.
What a brilliant idea, give everyone a blue bin that’s 5-10x the size they actually need. What Einstein thought this up. I just looked at the bin, pretty dysfuntional design, the top collects rainwater, when you open the lid all that water ends up i the bottom of the bin, literally 4 feet away from my armpit AND again the Einstein that thought of this forgot to put drain holes in the bottom of the bin (It’s not a green bin Einstein).
We received our new monstrous blue bin this week. There is no room for this to be stored in our garage or anywhere else on this property.
I realize that perhaps the collection workers may suffer some injury but you have now shifted all of this to the home owner. My wife and I are seniors and will have difficulty maneuvering this to the point where we may injure ourselves.
We have in the past been very diligent with our recycling habits but if a smaller bin can not be used we will be creating a lot more garbage
I love the idea of choosing a date, time and place…Anyone who doesn’t want these BUBB’s can drop them off and leave them there. Kind of like a BUBB REVOLT!
Too big. Too heavy. Too ugly.
I knew this receptacle was going to be large but never expected it to be so monstrous. It is heavy even empty so can’t imagine dragging it through the snow when filled. We are 2 seniors that don’t have a lot of recycling as we try to purchase things with minimal packaging. We are fortunate enough to be able to squeeze it into our garage but it will be very inconvenient getting to it. Heaven forbid something should fall into it by mistake as there will be no way to retrieve it without dumping it all out. I really don’t know how physically challenged, frail seniors or even height challenged people will be able to maneuver these bins. What is to happen with all the existing bins? If people are already short on space, repurposing them is not an option. Will they end up in landfill? I understand this is a Provincial undertaking but am hoping that we will have a choice of size.
The only solution which is bad for the environment is to keep this monstrosity in the back yard and stop recycling; Thank you to the province!
This tiny senior is smaller than the monster blue bin, so I have no option but to put my recycling in the garbage bag.
Whoever dumped it in front of my townhouse must pick it up.
The Town of Aurora must look after its residents and not accept the province’s nonsense. We should have several options, as large families with enough space may like it, but seniors in a small townhouse don’t need it, nor can they handle it.
Echoing the majority of the comments already posted. This is beyond impractical.
Not sure how these can be implemented without consideration and now seemingly forced upon residents to deal with.
Beyond the ridiculous size of the blue bins, it does not bode well that Circular Materials are not responding well to the Mayor of the town. Imagine how they will respond to any individual residents concerns, even if they corrected the bin size.
Have a look at the comments across their 1.5 star average google reviews for an idea of what we have to look forward to:
“You might want to invest in some anger management therapy for your collection staff…”
“Why are hundreds, if not thousands, of stickers for you clowns popping up all over my (and my neighbours) blue bins?”
“This company took over recycling pickup in Kingston on July 1st. The recycling has not been picked up on time since this happened,”
“Wouldn’t have thought it possible but I still haven’t had collection since this company took over at the beginning of July”
“Trucks show up so late in the day the bins are half empty from the wind already. Won’t even collect clear bagged recycling. 0 solutions, only causing problems.”
New blue bins not convinced , too big ,no room for it
You suppose to listen to Aurorians not Goverment.
You are working for us not for them.
We are living in a townhome with 2 cars. 1 is park inside the garage and 1 is park on the driveway. We do not have any extra space to manage this giant blue bin. Also imagine that the town won’t look pleasant if most of the residents place the blue bins outside on the driveway or yhe front yard.
Thanks for trying to arrange for smaller bins
Living in a semi detached with a mutual driveway. It would be impossible to get the bin between the neighbours car and my car. The bin sitting outside my garage because it won’t fit. It’s just too big.
Thank you Tom.
Looks like you were successful in getting the Premier and others to enforce Ontario Regulation 391/21 Blue Box that notes under section “22 (c) (i) provide blue box receptacles that are appropriate for the residence, including with respect to size.” which means choice between a small, medium and large blue bin.
This should not have happen and a review is warranted at Circular Materials and their agreement with GFL as well as an internal Town review as this should have been brought to Council’s attention prior to the delivery of these massive blue bins.
In any case, thank you again Tom.
GFL is a big company. You see them everywhere and not only in waste management. What are the consequences for them? The replacement of manual labor. They save money, maximize their profit. Not only will the size of the bin change our life, the frequency of removing the bin every second week will affect us. We citizens do not have the power and connections of this company. We will do the manual labor for them if we still have the physical power to do it.
We have a townhome with a one car driveway. In winter the space beside the car is far too narrow to wheel these new bins past. In order to put out the recycling we’ll need to move the car to the road, put out the bin, then park again. In the coldest months of the year this is a pretty annoying inconvenience. Not to mention needing to clear a large part of the lawn for it. They are far too large. Even with two weeks of recycling we won’t be near 95 gallons. A smaller option, maybe 1/2 or 2/3 the size would be ideal. Please keep trying to fix this problem.
These new 65 gallon blue bins that are available, are still too big and cumbersome for the elderly, and so many other people who live in rowhouse townhomes that can’t possibly get them out for pickup, as our driveways, which are attached to neighbours, only barely giving eachother the space, side by side, to even get out of each other’s vehicles. Also, because the driveways are not very deep, our vehicles, when parked, encroach the curbside, leaving another impossibility of not having these enormous bins being in the street, which is against the criteria of where these gigantic bins can be placed for pickup. Then there’s WINTER. Even with the regular blue boxes, again, the town rules were, that they were not to be placed on top of snowbanks, which is a common occurrence, as even that request was very hard to accomplish with the perfectly sized blue bins that worked in the past. My last comment is that the majority of people want to, and do the right thing, as far as recycling. The powers that be, are making it so difficult to recycle, that I’m afraid some people will turn a blind eye to it all….. This is something we don’t need.
65 gal bins are far too big and that is not the solution people expected. We want the same options that are available to other residents, such as in Toronto or Peel….32 gallon bins are plenty big enough for many seniors, single residents, and those with no where to store huge bins.
These bins are too small and limiting for families that put out 3-5 bins/ week. Broken down boxes are not the answer if it is already done. Shame on Aurora for following other towns, instead of researching the need of the people who pay taxes in the town affected. The biggest concern is that recycling will be turned into garbage and that defeats the purpose of recycling. Instead of meeting the need of the public, whether they need large or small bins.