Here’s What Actually Happens To Your Recycling and Organics in Halifax: A Brief Primer
There’s something that feels good about properly managing those recycling and organics bins.
We spend so much time hearing about climate change, ecological crisis, massive landfills, plastics in the oceans, etc. that at least properly disposing of cardboard and banana peels feels like a start — a small act that might begin to combat everything wrong with the world.
That being said, when you dive into municipal and regional recycling programs, the reality of what actually gets reused and recycled is often a lot grimmer. So how is Halifax doing when it comes to disposing of recycling and organics?
This is what we found investigating what actually happens to your recycling and organics in Halifax:
ORGANICS
Beginning with organics, it turns out the HRM’s New Organics Facility just opened its doors in September 2024. This brand new facility is a state-of-the-art site capable of processing 60,000 tonnes of organic waste a year and will ultimately receive all organics collected within the municipality. In doing so, the facility will meet and exceed the Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change 2010 Composting Facility Guidelines.
The site also includes a number of modern features such as:
Energy efficiency (the design incorporates LED lighting, uses heat generated from the composting process, and collects rainwater through its roof)
Water negative process (any leachate produced is recycled on-site)
Odour control (a biofilter system means that odours cannot escape to the surrounding community)
The new use of byproducts (ammonium sulphate generated can be marketed as a fertilizer product).
The facility was designed and built by Harbour City Renewables, who will continue to own and operate it for the next 25 years. It will also replace the two preexisting facilities, Ragged Lake and Burnside.
Since the New Organics Facility is, as its name suggests, new, it’ll take some time to evaluate whether it is meeting its targets year in and year out.
For the time being, however, you can rest assured that your organics are actually being treated and processed at an innovative, technically advanced composting facility.
RECYCLING
This leads us into the question of recycling and what actually happens once it’s picked up. To answer this question, we reached out to the HRM for clarification.
According to the city, 85-90 per cent of recyclable material collected through the curbside program is actually recycled into new products.
Once it is picked up, your recycling is sent to a Municipal Recycling Facility (MRF) where it is sorted and processed, and also has contaminants removed. Then, that 85-90 per cent is sent to market. Nova Scotia actually has items that are banned from landfill by the province so these items have to be recycled, and they are.
70 per cent of these materials that are tapped for recycling are sent to market in Canada. Markets for recycled materials fluctuate and are dependent on things like energy prices and costs of material, but much of the material is also processed in Canada.
In terms of plastics, 62 per cent of the recycled plastics that are marketed are LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene). These materials are used to make plastic trays, containers, plastic wraps, and films. 24 per cent of recycled plastics marketed are HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene), which are sent to Quebec for processing and used to make bottles, containers, and toys.
This means that about 10-15 per cent of what is collected in the curbside blue bag program ends up as residue. Approximately half of this residue is non-recyclable and should have been placed in the garbage in the first place. The other half of this residue is made up of contaminated recyclable materials — think products that haven’t been emptied or are covered in food waste.
All of this residue that is not marketed for recycling is managed within Nova Scotia — it is not exported for disposal.
future producer responsibility programs
Nova Scotia is in the process of implementing extended producer responsibility programs for packaging, paper products, and other blue bag materials. This program is part of the Environmental Goal and Climate Change Reduction Act and is overseen by Divert NS.
As of December 1, 2025, this means that the producers of these products will be responsible for their collection and end-of-life management instead of the municipality.
The goal of this Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging, Paper Products, and Packaging-like Products (EPR for PPP) is to shift responsibility so producers have to meet recycling targets. Over time, this program aims to:
Encourage more eco-friendly packaging
Reduce single-use plastics
Lower the amount of waste disposed in landfills
Promote the reduction of consumer packaging
the verdict
All of this is to say that it is absolutely worth your while to be diligently sorting out your recycling and organics in Halifax.
Yes, a small amount of recycling ends up in a landfill. But a huge majority of it doesn’t. On top of that, organics are also being processed at their own facility and diverted from landfill.
If you are already on your recycling and organics bins, keep it up. And if you’re not, hopefully learning what actually happens to your recycling and organics gives you the push you need to start.
Lead Photo: Getty Images x Unsplash+