London Hefty® EnergyBag® Pilot Project

Pilot Project Update – September 2022: The Pilot Project is now complete

The London Hefty® EnergyBag® Pilot Project has completed its wrap-up phase (i.e., winding down activities with participating households) and collecting feedback from participants. Preliminary results suggest the pilot project has proven reasonably successful, and all project partners are grateful for the work undertaken by London participants.

On behalf of the Project Team, thank you again for participating in this pilot project. It could not have been done without your assistance.

Why can’t the pilot project be continued or expanded?

The Hefty® EnergyBag® Pilot Project will not be expanded to a city-wide program because of two main reasons.

First, the supplier of the Hefty® Orange Bags has decided to focus on the United States for their core program expansion. They are still supporting the pilot in London until completion, but any other expansion programs will be in the US. This was a strategic brand decision from the Hefty® perspective.

Second, the commercialization of end markets for the Hefty® orange bag materials in or near Ontario has not occurred as quickly as hoped. The pandemic and supply chain challenges have slowed the development of suitable end markets for the materials. As work continues it may be a couple of years until commercialization for the materials increases in or near Ontario.

What are the last dates that the Hefty® orange bags can be used?

For participants using the EnviroDepots, please drop off any remaining full orange bags to a depot by August 5, 2022.

For participants in Old East Village, Kensington Village and Cleardale neighbourhoods with curbside collection, your last collection dates will be August 4 (Zone E) and August 5 (Zone F).

For residents participating in the pilot project from the five multi-residential buildings, your last collection will be the week of August 8, 2022.

For participants from the Wychwood Park (Zone B) and Stoneybrook (Zone C) pilot areas your last curbside collection with be August 25 (Zone B) and August 26 (Zone C).

After these dates, all participants can keep and use any remaining orange bags for storage purposes such as a kitchen liner for garbage. Please do not use an orange bag to collect containers or paper for curbside recycling as it will cause confusion.

What happens next?

City staff will continue to explore opportunities for hard-to-recycle plastics. There is a lot of pressure on the plastics industry to find more solutions for managing its products. City staff continue to work with the industry and our research partners like Western University to explore other solutions using advanced technologies in the context of what will be accepted in the new Blue Box program and what may occur through other recovery systems.

There is good news, but a few years away. Several items that are collected in the Hefty® orange bag will be regulated by the Province of Ontario into the Blue Box recycling program. All the costs of managing these materials will be paid by the industry that produces and/or uses them. This means that all of the efforts of Londoners who participated in Canada’s first pilot project will provide valuable information as all of Ontario prepares for this major expansion by January 1, 2026.

A report about the pilot project is being created and the final details from the program will be brought forward to Council in the middle of 2023.