Exciting Changes Coming to Recycling in Camrose Starting July 1, 2025

Changes are coming to the way residents recycle in Camrose. Beginning July 1, 2025, the Recycle with Centra Cam depot will adopt new procedures as part of the provincial shift to EPR - a system that moves financial responsibility for recycling away from municipalities and onto producers.

The EPR regulations, introduced by the Government of Alberta in 2022, are now being implemented across the province. The new system is designed to improve recycling outcomes, expand accepted materials, and reduce landfill waste. It also introduces new funding streams for municipalities, helping to lower utility recycling fees for residents and improve recycling services long-term.

What Camrose Residents Need to Know

Effective July 1, 2025, residential recyclers will begin using new outdoor collection bins at the Recycle with Centra Cam depot. Items will now be comingled and require no sorting:

• Cardboard and paper products
• Plastics (#1–7), film plastics
• Tin and Glass (clear and colored)

Residents will no longer drop off recyclable materials inside the main depot building. Instead, the new large outdoor bins - supplied and managed by Circular Materials, a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) - will make drop-off simple and more efficient. These bins are designed with improved accessibility and material acceptance in mind.

Also, the list of accepted materials is expanding! Plastics #1–7 will now be accepted, and the addition of colored glass, offering residents more opportunities to recycle responsibly.

Looking Ahead

• A curbside recycling program is planned to launch in October 2026, at no additional cost to residents.
• The Recycle Depot is intended to remain in operation even after curbside collection begins, to accept materials that won’t be eligible for curbside pickup, such as glass and styrofoam.
• Recycling user fees were lowered for 2025, thanks to anticipated funding from the EPR program.

Camrose City Council has been engaged in the transition since registering for Phase 1 of the program in late 2023. New contracts with Circular Materials and Centra Cam are currently being finalized for implementation July 1. Under the new agreements, Centra Cam will continue to oversee daily operations at the depot.

The City of Camrose remains committed to enhancing recycling services, supporting local partners like Centra Cam, and keeping the community informed throughout the transition.

For more information, visit our Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Recycling Project page or contact Amy Johnson, Senior Municipal Engineering Technologist, at ajohnson@camrose.ca or at 780.672.4428.