Soak Up the Sun, Not the Landfill: Waste Diversion Programs for Summer 2025

Kawartha Lakes – Kawartha Lakes is excited to share some of our great waste diversion programs available to residents this spring and summer:

Need woodchips (mulch) for your gardens? Save yourself some money and pick it up at the Lindsay Ops landfill for free on Wednesdays throughout the spring/summer.

Woodchip (mulch) and compost are available for pick-up at the Lindsay Ops landfill, throughout the year, on Wednesdays only. Due to the ice storm, we have a lot more woodchips than usual. For the time being, we are waiving the fees for woodchips loaded by staff; usually, it is $105 per tonne of product. This service is only available for residents or contractors with trailers and for woodchips only. Compost will still be charged if loaded by staff.

Please come empty to the landfill, as you will be required to weigh in and weigh out to get accurate weights on the woodchips and compost that are going out. If you are able to load the woodchips/compost yourself, it is always free.

Residents should feel safe using our compost for their gardens and landscaping as it is tested prior to it being released to the public.

Please note that, the Lindsay Ops landfill is closed to receiving waste on Wednesdays and only open to the public for woodchip and compost pickup from 8am to 4pm.

Old paint cans, batteries, cleaners, propane tanks and automotive products starting to add up? Get rid of them at one of our household hazardous waste depots.

Are you in spring cleaning mode? Now is a great time to remove hazardous materials from your household and dispose of them in an environmentally safe manner. Only the Lindsay Ops and Fenelon landfills are able to accept household hazardous waste materials. If you’re unable to make it to the Lindsay Ops or Fenelon landfill, you can also dispose of household hazardous waste at one of our upcoming Round Up Days. See more information below or on the Round Up Day page on our website.

Household hazardous waste items include, but are not limited to, paints and stains, batteries, household cleaners, pharmaceuticals, propane tanks, antifreeze, fluorescent lights, fire extinguishers, aerosols, solvents, pool chemicals, used oil, oil filters, fertilizers and pesticides.

Please note that the municipality accepts 55lbs (25kgs) of each category of household hazardous waste per customer per day. Residents are asked to bring small loads of household hazardous waste to the depots as quantities greater than 55lbs may not be accepted in one trip if storage space is unavailable. No commercial hazardous waste is accepted.

For a full list of acceptable household hazardous waste items, visit our Landfills page.

Need some paint for a project this summer? Check out the Paint Reuse program at the Lindsay Ops and Fenelon landfills.

Residents can take advantage of our Paint Reuse program again this summer. The Paint Reuse program allows you to pick up a limit of five used one gallon or one quart cans of paint or stain per visit. This program is available at the Fenelon Falls and Lindsay Ops landfill household hazardous waste depots and it’s free of charge. The Paint Reuse program runs from May to October for the summer.

When picking up paint through the program, be sure to cross the scales and speak to an attendant so that inventory can be tracked accordingly. Aerosol spray paint cans and/or 20 litre pails of paint are not included in the Paint Reuse program.

Have an old mattress that needs recycling? Bring it to the Lindsay Ops landfill or arrange to have it picked up at your curb.

The mattress recycling program is only offered at the Lindsay Ops landfill. Mattresses are not accepted at our four other landfills (Eldon, Fenelon, Laxton, and Somerville), and will be denied. If bringing your old mattress to the Lindsay Ops landfill yourself is not an option, you can always purchase a $20 mattress tag online using our Curbside Tag form. Tags are also available for purchase at our Municipal Service Centres. Once the mattress tag is purchased, all you have to do is contact the team at Miller Waste Services (1-888-557-4711 or kawarthalakes@millerwaste.ca) and they’ll arrange for pick-up.

With your help, in the first five months of 2025, we have diverted over 1500 mattresses from our landfills!

Textile (clothing, linen and footwear) recycling is no longer available curbside but it can be brought to the purple bins at any of our landfills to be recycled. 

Our Curbside Textile Collection Program will not be returning this year.

This year, we ask residents to continue to divert used or unwanted clothing, footwear and linen from our landfills by using the purple textile recycling bins at each of our five landfills.

Textiles can also be recycled at one of our four annual summer Round-Up Day events. Hold on to your used or unwanted clothing, footwear and linen and then bring it to the Round-Up Day event closest to you.  

Community Textile Drop-off Locations

As we continue to develop and evolve our plans for better diversion methods, we have reached out to community locations who are eagerly looking for donations of household goods and textiles. Want to be a part of our list? Send us an email through our diversion webpage! Some of the community collectors are: Habitat for Humanity, Vicki’s Values, A Place Called Home, and more.

The following items are accepted in the textile bins:

Clothing: active wear, bathing suits, bathrobes, belts/ties, coats, dresses, hats, jeans, pants, parkas, purses, scarves, shirts, skirts, socks, sweaters, t-shirts, undergarments and uniforms.

Footwear: athletic shoes, boots, cleats, dress shoes, high heels, running shoes, slip-ons, slippers, loafers and sneakers.

Linens: bedding, blankets, comforters, curtains, cushions, mats, oven mitts, pillows, rags, sewing fabric, sheets, sleeping bags, stuffed toys, towels and wash cloths.

Please Note: ripped and stained items will be accepted for recycling.

For more information, visit our Diversion Programs page.

Replacing your old plastic patio chairs this summer? Be sure to bring them to the Lindsay Ops landfill to recycle for free!

After being adopted as a permanent program in 2023, Bulky Plastic recycling remains a successful diversion option for items such as: plastic beverage crates (milk crates), clean plastic drums, totes, empty garbage cans, recycling bins, plastic lawn furniture and clean plastic buckets/pails. No metal attachments are accepted in the bin.

Residents are encouraged to continue to take advantage of the program by dropping off their bulky plastic recycling at the Lindsay Ops landfill for free! Please keep in mind that the program is only available at the Lindsay Ops landfill. At all of our other landfills bulky plastics are considered waste and it is chargeable.

Items accepted in the program must be greater than 10 litres or 10 kilograms capacity (2.5 gallon), up to and including the size of our largest recycling bin (95 gallon).

For more information, visit our Diversion Programs page.

Skip the landfill and have your spring curbside leaf and yard waste collected curbside in June.

Spring curbside leaf and yard waste collection returns in June. Residents are asked to place leaf and yard material in dry paper bags curbside before 7am on their designated dates. 

For residents who have waste collection on Mondays or Wednesdays, leaf and yard collection will take place on Friday June 6.

For residents who have waste collection on Tuesdays or Thursdays, leaf and yard collection will take place on Friday June 13.

For best practices and tips on what can or can’t be included in curbside leaf and yard waste, visit the Residential Collection page of our website and look for the “Curbside leaf and yard waste collection” section.

Can't make it all the way to a landfill? No problem - meet us half way at one of our Round Up Day events!

Round Up Days are back this summer! Each event will run from 8am to 12pm and allows residents an opportunity to drop off their household hazardous waste, textiles, bulky plastics, and electronics free of charge.

Waste, Mattresses and Freon items are not accepted.

Saturday June 21 – Carden
Carden Recreation Centre, 258 Lake Dalrymple Rd, Sebright, ON L0K 1W0

Saturday July 19 – Manvers
Rolling Hills Public School, 694 ON-7A, Bethany, ON L0A 1A0

Saturday July 26 – Bobcaygeon
Bobcaygeon Public School, 30 Balaclava St, Bobcaygeon, ON K0M 1A0

Saturday August 16 - Coboconk
Coboconk Road’s Depot, 2863 CKL #48, Coboconk

For a full list of what will and won’t be accepted at a Round Up Day event, visit the Round Up Days page on our website.

Did you know about the Recycle Coach mobile app?

The Recycle Coach app provides residents with a personalized waste and recycling schedule right at their fingertips. Residents with the app will receive notifications for collection changes, delays, upcoming special collection days and recycling tips right to their mobile devices. The app also features a handy “What Goes Where” tool to help residents better sort their waste, recycling and organics.  

Download the Recycle Coach app on your mobile device today.

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