Blue Bag Recyclables

Single family residences receive curbside collection of unlimited amounts of Blue Bags, as long as the contents are acceptable and are clean and dry. All recyclable materials can be collected in one bag, so no sorting is required. 

View the attached poster for a visual description of What Goes in the Mixed Recycling Blue Bag

The acceptable items for the Blue Bag are:

• refundable beverage containers (all refundable beverage containers, including pop cans, pop bottles, juice bottles, and juice tetra paks, should be returned for refund, but may also be included in the blue bags for convenience);
• milk containers (plastic and wax paper cartons);
• newspaper;
• cardboard (corrugated, cereal, tissue, cracker boxes, etc.);
• paper (office paper, phone books, catalogues, flyers, etc.);
• glass bottles and jars with lid removed (no window glass, drinking cup glass, or broken glass);
• tetra paks (soup, beverage, etc.);
• tin and aluminum cans (food, soup, coffee, pet food, foil, plates, etc.); and
• plastics #1, #2, #4 film only, and #5 with lids removed from all containers.  Motor oil containers are not accepted in Blue Bags.
• plastics # 1 (PET, polyethylene terephthalate containers such as pop bottles, water bottles etc.);
• plastics # 2 (HDPE, high density polyethylene items such as containers for laundry & dish detergent, bleach, milk, and shampoo, and toys, etc.);
• plastics # 4 rigid and film (LDPE, low density polyethylene items such as grocery bags, ziploc bags, bread bags etc.); and
• plastics # 5 (PP, polypropylene items such as yogurt containers and some re-usable containers).

Recyclables do not have to be sorted, but they do need to be clean and dry, as the current system is unable to handle wet newspaper and cardboard, and there is no market for any contaminated recyclable streams.  It is also acceptable to bundle cardboard or to bundle newspaper, and to place the bundles under the blue bag, however each bundle must not exceed 23 kg (50 lbs) in weight or 60 cm (2’) in any dimension.  Placing bundled cardboard and newspaper underneath the blue bag on collection day helps to keep it dry, however placing in a Blue Bag helps to keep it even drier.

Blue bags can be purchased at most grocery stores and building supply centres in Abbotsford. All collected Blue Bag Recyclables are delivered to the Abbotsford Mission Recycling Depot for processing. If you have any questions regarding the Abbotsford recycling program, contact the Abbotsford Mission Recycling Depot.