According to the City of Toronto, effective yesterday we can now recycle a whole lot of plastic and foam packaging that previously went into landfill.

It's great news, but after a first (and second) read, I'm still scratching my head. It's not all that simple to understand what the new rules are.

You can now toss plastic grocery bags in the blue bin, but not dry cleaning, milk, or sandwich bags. Foam cups and meat trays can go in the blue bin too (after rinsing of food), but not packing peanuts. And the hard, clear "clamshell" plastic used to sell electronics on pegs? Not for the blue bin. What about the deli meat package I just emptied? Is that blue bin material? I'm... guessing... no? (And I'm not certain).

Now that plastic bags are recyclable, does that mean that we can line our blue bins with a large plastic bag? (Previously the answer was NO). Will the City be sending out any literature to residents, better explaining the new sorting protocol, or is what's on the web page all that we'll get?

I must say... the new blue bins are awesome. I love being able to toss all my recyclables into the massive box without the need to sort them out. But as the city adopts new programs for plastics and foam packaging recycling, I can't help but feel that they need to better deliver the message to the masses in a clear and concise way.

Photo by aka dito.