There are certain products in the house that we shouldn’t be throwing out with the trash. Ramsin Khachi explains how to dispose of those toxic household items.

How Best to Dispose of Household Hazardous Waste?

Bring it to your local public drop-off depots (household items only) at no charge.  Most of the waste will be recycled into new products. The rest will be forwarded for safe disposal in a specially-designed chemical landfill.

Keep materials in their original containers, or ensure that the containers are clearly labelled.

Do not mix different products together.

Tightly cap all containers.

Each municipality will have its own waste disposal program — visit yours for more information.

Check www.earth911.com to find appropriate recycling depot near you.

Used car oil & filters

Dealerships and Garages are set up on recycle programs. If you are a DIY car person then you can return your unused oil and filters to a local garage.

Parcipating Canadian Tire stores take back old oil and used filters with no disposal fee.
Canadian Tire
www.canadiantire.ca
905-844-0202
There is approximately 750 million gallons of used motor oil recycled in this country every year, and it takes only 1 gallon of improperly disposed oil to contaminate a million gallons of groundwater.

Old Paint

To properly dispose of latex paint, the container needs to be completely emptied. To safely do this, you can purchase paint hardener to solidify the paint, or you can even use kitty litter, mulch or shredded paper from your paper shredder. Once the paint has dried, you can easily scoop the paint out. Dried latex paint can be disposed of in the rubbish. Metal paint cans can be disposed of as well, and recycled if empty.

For disposal of oil-based paint, you should bring the paint to a local recycling station. You may want to call before visiting, since they all have different policies on what they do with oil based paint. Oil-based paint is either incinerated or recycled by actually using the paint, or repackaging the paint to give back to customers. All labels must be intact for disposal instructions. Read this to see the required techniques of disposal. Ultimately, it is best for the consumer to use the entire can of paint.

Paint Thinner

Let the vapours evaporate & recycle the container.

Brake Fluid

To dispose of new or unused brake fluid, pour it into a container of cat litter. The brake fluid will evaporate within a few days. Recycle the container.

Car Batteries 

Participating Canadian Tire stores take back car batteries with no disposal fee. They will offer a $10 in-store credit for batteries bought at Canadian Tires stores.

Most stores that sell car batteries will offer a credit for an old battery toward the purchase of a new one. Ask a sales clerk to confirm the store policy.

Sell it. Some metal recyclers purchase old batteries. Consult a telephone directory to locate metal recyclers.

Recycle it. Many cities have special facilities designated to receive hazardous materials such as car batteries. Consult your city government to find one.

Alkaline Batteries 

Best Buy Canada has a recycling program where you can drop off old batteries in a bin and they will dispose of them at no charge. Rechargeable batteries are a good “green” option.

According to www.toronto.ca when you’re finished with batteries the best place for them is unfortunately the garbage can. Alkaline batteries can be safely disposed of with normal household waste. Never dispose of batteries in fire because they could explode.

According to Duracell, it is important not to dispose of large amounts of alkaline batteries in a group. Used batteries are often not completely "dead." Grouping used batteries together can bring these "live" batteries into contact with one another, creating safety risks.

Proven cost-effective and environmentally-safe recycling processes are not yet universally available for alkaline batteries. Some communities offer recycling or collection of alkaline batteries /contact your local government for disposal practices in your area.

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs & Safe Mercury disposal

According to www.lightbulbs.org concerns exist about the mercury escaping from broken CFL bulbs, as safe disposal requires storing the bulbs unbroken until they can be processed.

Do not throw your CFLs in the garbage; putting them there greatly increases the chance of the mercury vapour escaping upon breakage, first exposing you and then the air and water around the landfill to the gas.

If a bulb is to break be sure to put into a plastic bag and clearly mark for handling.

The only appropriate way of disposal is through a waste management program.

DVDs and CDs

Landfill isn’t a good option as these things will be around for hundreds of years to come. They don’t break down readily and over time can release toxic fumes.

CDs can be recycled for use in new products. Specialized electronic recycling companies clean, grind, blend, and compound the discs into a high-quality plastic for a variety of uses, including:

• Automotive industry parts
• Raw materials to make plastics (Discs are ground into a gravel-like substance, which is sold to companies that melt it down and convert it to plastic)
• Office equipment
• Alarm boxes and panels, street lights, and electrical cable insulation
• Jewel cases

Check www.earth911.com for a recycle centre near you.

Expired Medicine

Shoppers Drug Mart will dispose of your old medicines at no charge.

Arrange with your doctor or pharmacist in advance to return any unused medicines.

Even though the most obvious way of disposal may be flushing down the toilet or washing down the sink, old medications can still contaminate ground water.

If you must dispose of your unused medications in the trash, which is still better and safer than the sewer, you may want to place a little water into solid medications or solidify liquid medicines with a little kitty litter, sawdust or flour. This may help keep your medications from being taken accidentally by a child or pet.

Aerosol Cans

Recycle in the blue bin.
Most recycled aerosol cans are reborn into new aerosol cans.

Styrofoam

Foam packaging, coffee cups, disposable cutlery and plates can all be put in the Blue Bin for recycling.