Help Reduce Recycling Contamination with Surrey’s ‘Waste Wizard’

Surrey, BC – Paper, cardboard and tin cans? Yes. Plastic bags, candy wrappers and glass? No.

The City of Surrey has just launched an educational campaign to remind residents what is accepted in the blue bin and what items are not accepted in an effort to curb recycling contamination. Surrey encourages residents to explore the ‘Waste Wizard’ online to make it easier for residents to determine if an item should be recycled, donated, taken to a recycling depot, or put in the waste bin.  

“Putting the wrong items in your recycling cart pollutes Surrey’s recycling stream and makes it very challenging and, in some cases, nearly impossible to separate these items,” said Mayor Doug McCallum.  “Having the wrong items in the recycling bin can result in the items being sent to landfill, which is what we are trying to avoid. The Waste Wizard is a simple and free tool to determine which items go in the blue bin and the garbage bin. I urge everyone to make full use of the Waste Wizard to help ensure that items placed in the curbside recycling cart belong there. This simple step will help to keep Surrey a green, clean and thriving city.”

After a successful education campaign in 2021, Surrey saw its recycling contamination rate drop by 50% in target areas and the City is calling on residents to help reduce the number even further in 2022.

The new Central Surrey Recycling and Waste Centre is scheduled to open in spring 2022 providing residents and businesses a year-round convenient location for Surrey residents and business to drop-off their recycling and waste. The facility will accept various categories of recyclables such as mattress, electronics, gypsum, furniture, appliances, paints, textiles, books, green waste ensuring waste is diverted from landfill.

Accepted items that can go in the City of Surrey’s blue bins:

• Paper (newspaper, flyers, magazines, envelopes)
• Cartons (milk, juice, ice cream)
• Cardboard (flattened)
• Plastic food containers (muffins, berries, pre-packaged meals, etc.)
• Plastic bottles (water, pop, etc.) Plastic tubs/containers (yogurt, ice cream, laundry detergent)
• Plastic jars (jams, sauces, soaps, etc.)
• Plastic jugs (milk, water, juice)
• Tin cans (tuna, tomatoes, lentils)
• Empty aerosol spray cans

Not accepted items:

• Plastic bags
• Film plastics (Ziplock bags, overwrap on paper towels, etc.)
• Batteries
• Candy wrappers, chips bags
• Electronics or small appliances (toasters, fans, cables, extension cords, etc.)
• Glass jars
• Clothing
• Pots, pans and scrap metal
• Tissue and paper towel

Find more information on how to recycle and sort waste and view the Waste Wizard.