Halton Region will roll out new wheeled carts for garbage and organics to roughly 180,000 curbside households starting next year, Regional Chair Gary Carr announced on June 12. The two-year switch aims to make collection safer and more efficient, but it will not include recycling bins because of a recent provincial change.
Residents in the first group of about 95,000 homes can expect their carts between January and March 2027, with automated collection beginning in April 2027. The remaining 85,000 households will get their carts by spring 2028. Each home will receive a 240-litre garbage cart and a 120-litre organics cart with a gravity lock to keep pests out. Phase One households can ask for a smaller 120-litre garbage cart through August 15, 2026. In all, the region plans to hand out more than 350,000 carts.
Blue box recycling will stay the same. Since January 1, 2026, a province-wide producer responsibility system handed recycling duties to Circular Materials Ontario, which chose to keep manual collection instead of wheeled bins. That decision frustrated some regional councillors. Burlington’s Rory Nisan, who took part in a pilot that started in 2023, said the carts made “a noticeable difference” for older residents. Oakville’s Jeff Knoll warned it could become a “public relations nightmare.”
The new program follows a multi-year test that began with 1,800 homes in Milton, Halton Hills, Oakville and Burlington and grew to 18,000 households by 2025. About 85 per cent of feedback was positive or neutral. Regional staff say automated trucks can serve about 1,200 to 1,400 homes a day, reducing heavy lifting for crews, cutting down litter and keeping collections on time as the population grows. “This delivery plan builds on the progress already made,” said Alli Tyldesley, Halton’s Director of Waste Management.
Milton residents can learn more at an information session this summer and through community displays running through August. Full details and the cart request form are on the Halton Region website.
