The State of Soft Plastic Recycling in Canada in 2026

Flexible plastic packaging accounts for nearly half of all plastic packaging placed on the Canadian market, yet the systems for recovering it vary enormously from one province to the next. British Columbia stands apart as North America's leading example of kerbside flexible film collection. Ontario and Quebec are restructuring how packaging recycling is funded and managed through EPR transitions still playing out. This is the state of the system today and what is changing.

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Where Things Stand Right Now

‍47% of Canada's plastic packaging is flexible

‍A 2024 PRFLEX study found that flexible materials account for 47% of all plastic packaging placed on the Canadian market. Nearly half of Canada's plastic packaging is in formats that most kerbside bins still do not accept. Canada's recycling infrastructure has been built largely around rigid containers, bottles, and cans. Flexible film has historically been an afterthought.

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A patchwork of provincial systems‍

Canada does not have a national packaging recycling system. Each province manages packaging waste under its own legislative framework, resulting in significant variation in what is collected, who pays, and what happens to material.

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How Soft Plastic Is Collected Across Canada

British Columbia

BC is the most advanced jurisdiction in North America for flexible film recovery.

Key facts:

• Recycle BC operates a province-wide depot network that accepts flexible plastics. The depot network captures close to 25% of flexible plastics placed on the BC residential market, which is described as unprecedented across North America, while still falling well short of EPR targets.
• A 2021 pilot in West Vancouver tested kerbside flexible plastic collection in a dedicated separate bin. The per-household capture rate was over three times higher than the depot network.
• Based on the pilot results, Recycle BC committed to kerbside collection in two metro Vancouver municipalities, with rollout in 2024 and 2025.
• West Vancouver launched monthly dedicated kerbside flexible plastic collection in June 2025.

The depot-to-kerbside shift matters. A threefold increase in capture rate is not a marginal improvement. If the metro Vancouver rollout holds those results at scale, it transforms the economics and viability of province-wide kerbside flexible film collection.

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Store drop-off across Canada

Most Canadians who recycle soft plastic do so through retail store drop-off. Clean PE film can be dropped off at major retailers including Canadian Tire, Sobeys, and Loblaw across most provinces.

• How2Recycle's Store Drop-Off label in the US translates to a "Widely Recyclable" designation in Canada for provinces with kerbside or depot collection programmes that accept film. This is a more favourable classification than in the US.
• Brands selling into BC should ensure their PE film packaging carries the correct ARL designation, as kerbside collection is expanding and the label guides consumer behaviour.

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The PRFLEX initiative

PRFLEX is a multi-organisation collaboration spearheaded by the Canada Plastics Pact. It is conducting a national study to optimise the recycling system for flexible plastic packaging.

• Phase one established the 47% market share figure and mapped existing collection, sorting, and processing infrastructure across Canada.
• Phase two is developing recommendations for upstream design improvements, consumer education, and end market development nationally.

PRFLEX is the first coordinated national effort to address flexible film as a category, not a series of provincial workarounds.

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What Actually Happens to the Material

Mechanical recycling

Clean PE film collected through BC's depot network and expanding kerbside programme is baled and sent to film recyclers, who process it into recycled PE pellets. These are used primarily in non-packaging applications: agricultural film, industrial bags, pipes, and plastic lumber. A small but growing proportion returns to new packaging film.

Output quality depends heavily on the cleanliness and mono-material purity of the input. Contaminated or mixed-material film produces lower-grade pellets with fewer end market options.

The processing bottleneck

Expanding collection without matching processing capacity creates a different problem. The Sustainable Packaging Coalition's 2025 North American film recycling analysis found that only 9% of total US and Canadian plastic recycling capacity is dedicated to LDPE and LLDPE, the resins that make up most soft plastic packaging.

Canada's film recycling infrastructure is concentrated in BC and Ontario. As EPR programmes drive more material into collection, processing capacity will become the binding constraint. This is the gap the PRFLEX recommendations need to address.

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What the Regulations Require

Provincial EPR

Canada's packaging EPR transition is happening province by province:

• British Columbia has operated producer-funded packaging recycling since 2014 through Recycle BC.
• Ontario transitioned its Blue Box programme to full producer responsibility between 2023 and 2026 through Circular Materials.
• Quebec completed its transition to a unified, fully producer-funded Blue Box system by the end of 2025 through Éco Entreprises Québec.

All three programmes require producers to fund the full cost of collection and recycling for packaging placed on those provincial markets, including flexible packaging.

Eco-modulation: the fee signal that drives design change

BC's EPR programme is already incorporating eco-modulation: fee adjustments based on packaging recyclability. Higher recyclability means lower EPR contributions per tonne. This creates a direct financial incentive for brands to improve packaging design and not just a compliance obligation.

As Ontario and Quebec's programmes mature and introduce similar eco-modulation, the financial advantage of mono-material recyclable flexible packaging over non-recyclable laminates becomes concrete and compounding across Canada's three largest EPR markets.

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Where Canadian Soft Plastic Recycling Is Heading

BC kerbside rollout to metro Vancouver

Recycle BC's commitment to kerbside flexible film collection in two metro Vancouver municipalities, following the West Vancouver pilot, is the most significant near-term development in Canadian soft plastic recycling. If the rollout proves operationally and economically viable at municipality scale, the case for province-wide kerbside flexible film collection becomes much stronger. It also becomes the model other provinces need to follow.

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PRFLEX national recommendations

The PRFLEX second phase will produce recommendations across the full flexible packaging value chain: design for recyclability, collection model optimisation, improved sorting, and end market development. These recommendations will inform provincial EPR programme designs and brand commitments nationally. It is the first attempt at a coordinated, evidence-based national approach to flexible film.

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Chemical recycling for complex formats

Chemical recycling capacity for mixed and contaminated plastic film, including multi-layer laminates, is developing in Canada as a complement to mechanical recycling for formats that mechanical systems cannot handle. Investment in this area is early-stage but growing.

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EPR eco-modulation as the long-term design signal

Voluntary brand commitments to recyclable packaging have limited traction without a financial consequence. EPR eco-modulation creates that consequence. As BC, Ontario, and Quebec's programmes mature, the recurring fee advantage of recyclable mono-material packaging over non-recyclable laminates is what drives packaging design change at scale.

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What This Means for You and Your Brand

BC is already demonstrating that kerbside flexible film collection at meaningful scale is achievable in Canada. The question is how quickly the model transfers to Ontario, Quebec, and beyond, and whether EPR programmes develop the processing infrastructure needed to keep pace with expanding collection.

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Three actions are worth prioritising now.

1. Confirm your provincial EPR registrations are current

If you are selling flexible packaging in BC, Ontario, or Quebec and are not registered and reporting, address that first. Compliance is a current legal obligation in all three provinces, not a future one.

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2. Ensure your PE film packaging carries the correct ARL designation

As BC kerbside expands, the ARL label on your packaging directly guides consumer recycling behaviour. PE film packaging sold into BC should carry the How2Recycle Store Drop-Off or kerbside-appropriate designation. Incorrect or absent labelling means material that could be recovered ends up in general waste.

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3. Assess mono-material PE alternatives for your Canadian volumes

As BC kerbside expands and other provinces build collection infrastructure, mono-material PE flexible packaging is what those systems are designed to handle. Multi-layer laminates, foil-based structures, and mixed-material pouches will not benefit from improved kerbside collection because they cannot be sorted or processed by PE film recycling infrastructure. Brands with significant Canadian volumes should assess whether mono-PE alternatives can meet their product protection requirements.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I put soft plastic in my recycling bin in Canada?

It depends on your province and municipality. In parts of BC, particularly West Vancouver and expanding metro Vancouver areas, yes. In most of Ontario, Quebec, and other provinces, no. Most Canadians outside BC need to use retail depot drop-off for soft plastic. Check your municipal recycling guide or the Recycle BC website if you are in BC.

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Why is BC ahead of the rest of Canada on soft plastic recycling?

BC has operated a mature, producer-funded EPR system for packaging since 2014. That longer operating history means more established collection infrastructure, more funding, and more data to optimise the system. The 2021 West Vancouver kerbside pilot gave Recycle BC the evidence to commit to metro Vancouver expansion. Other provinces are at earlier stages of EPR maturation and will follow, but BC has a structural head start of more than a decade.

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What is the PRFLEX initiative and why does it matter?

PRFLEX is a national study led by the Canada Plastics Pact to map and improve Canada's flexible packaging recycling system. Phase one established that flexible materials account for 47% of Canadian plastic packaging and mapped existing infrastructure. Phase two is developing recommendations across collection, sorting, processing, and end market development. It is the first coordinated national effort to address flexible film as a category, and its recommendations will shape how provincial EPR programmes develop over the next several years.

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Sources and further reading

• PRFLEX study: flexible packaging nearly half of Canadian market (Resource Recycling, 2024): resource-recycling.com
• Recycle BC flexible film kerbside expansion (Resource Recycling, 2025): resource-recycling.com
• How2Recycle Store Drop-Off (US and Canada): how2recycle.info
• SPC North American film recycling analysis (2025): sustainablepackaging.org
• Recycle BC programme overview: recyclebc.ca
• Circular Materials (Ontario Blue Box): circularmaterials.ca
• Éco Entreprises Québec: eeq.ca

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