For large families, it’s ‘already full after a week,’ says PLQ Mille-Îles MNA
What started out as a kind of April Fool’s statement on Virginie Dufour’s Facebook page nearly two months ago has turned into a campaign by the Mille-Îles Liberal MNA to get the City of Laval to furnish more recycling bins, as the municipality continues to encourage recycling while discouraging the disposal of garbage in landfill.
‘No joke,’ says Dufour
“It’s not a joke, from April 1st, the recycling collection will move to two weeks in Laval,” Dufour, herself a former Laval city councillor and executive-committee member, states in her video.
“For a large family like mine, the bin is already full after a week. And a slightly bigger bin won’t be enough either,” she continues.
While maintaining it’s not entirely the city’s fault, but rather Éco Entreprises Québec that bears responsibility due to budgetary constraints, Dufour ultimately blames the current provincial government, “because costs have exploded under the rules imposed by the CAQ,” she says.
Expenses through the roof
She says she asked a parliamentary commission to shed some light on why waste management expenses “exploded” so drastically, but “still no answer. Less collection, less recycle. And that’s everyone paying the price.
“I’ve got four children, two dogs, and this is what my recycling bin looks like after just one week,” adds Dufour, pointing to her family’s household recycling bin filled nearly to the top.
“So, you can understand, every two weeks is impossible. And frankly, if we keep heading in that direction, we’re going to hit a wall and people will give up on recycling.”
In an interview this week with The Laval News, Dufour pointed out that as the city took measures to comply with new provincial requirements to cut back garbage output, an immediate consequence was a correspondingly vast increase in the volume of recyclables.
No to second bin, says city
“We have four teenagers who eat like two people each,” she said. “So, yeah, we consume a lot, but we have kids to feed. So, every week our recycling bin is full. And we knew this was coming. But what we did not expect is that they would not allow us to have a second bin.”
She said she tried three times to get the City of Laval to provide a second recycling bin to deal with her family’s exceptional output, but that “the only thing they offered me was a bigger bin,” even though it wasn’t large enough to handle their needs.
Dufour said that after posting the video, she received replies from people all over Quebec saying they had the same problem, but were able to receive a second bin from their municipality after putting in a request.
“But in Laval we’re not allowed to,” she maintained. “And my understanding now is that it would be a rule imposed by Éco Entreprises Québec.”
Under new management
Since January 2025, the management of recycling bins in municipalities across Quebec has been under the control of Éco Entreprises Québec. The non-profit organization, according to information on its website, represents companies that supply containers, packaging and printed paper in Quebec.
For contractual reasons, according to Dufour, the City of Laval signed an agreement that remains in effect and which restricts the number of recycling bins assigned per household.
“I even went to my city councillor and I was told ‘no, it’s not possible’ [to get an extra bin],” she said, adding that she was told single-family homes are only allowed one bin, although it can be a larger one that holds 1.5 times the capacity of the smaller bin.
Because her smaller bin was full in no time at all, she said “I told them several times that it just doesn’t add up for me. Even like in one week, sometimes it was a problem. Sometimes we had to even put recycling in neighbours’ bins. But now they’re all full – all the bins around the neighbourhood.”
Recycling vs. landfill costs
Dufour, who is the Official Opposition Critic for Environment in the PLQ shadow cabinet, holds the CAQ government responsible for an increase in recycling costs after the government imposed new rules on Éco Entreprises Québec as well as other agencies active in the recycling sector.
“The cost increase in three years went from $285 million to $483 million,” she said, while adding that some businesses particularly impacted by recycling have seen their costs double or even triple during the same period.
While acknowledging that it’s now more than nine times more costly to recycle waste as it is to send it to landfill, Dufour insisted that landfill is still not a viable alternative.
“It’s just that when it costs so much more to recycle, it runs the risk that people will get away from recycling,” she said. “There is a problem with cost control. There’s been like a cost explosion. And I’ve been asking the government to do an inquiry because it just doesn’t add up in the end.”
