The District Municipality of Muskoka has opened a new waste depot in Bracebridge, offering residents and seasonal property owners a supervised place to drop off household garbage, recycling, and organics. The Lake Muskoka Depot at 1770 Beaumont Drive began accepting materials on June 13, with a formal opening ceremony on June 15, 2026.
This facility is the latest step in the Bin Site Transition Project, a multi-year effort that replaced 88 unsupervised and unlicensed dumpster sites across the region. The project wrapped up in January 2026, following direction from the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks that started in 2019.
District Councillor Brenda Rhodes, Deputy Mayor of Bracebridge, said the depot fills an important need. “The Lake Muskoka Depot gives residents and seasonal property owners a convenient and reliable place to manage their waste close to home,” Rhodes said. “It’s an important addition to the community and helps ensure residents continue to have access to modern waste services.”
The new depot is licensed, fully secured, and staffed by an attendant during operating hours, meeting provincial environmental rules. The broader transition project has already brought curbside pickup to more than 1,200 properties and lakeside collection to over 2,200 others. The remaining households are served by supervised drop-off sites like the one on Beaumont Drive. The district says the changes are expected to keep more than 40,000 bags of divertible garbage out of the landfill each year.
In 2026, the Bin Site Transition Project earned a national Environmental Leadership and Sustainability Award from the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators. The recognition highlights the lasting benefits of addressing environmental risks tied to the old unsupervised sites.
