Recycling FAQs

Appliances | Automotive | Batteries | Beverage Containers
Electronic Waste | Glass | Hazardous Products and Paint | Mercury |
Municipal Recycling | Paper | Recycled Products
Recycling at Work | Composting

Appliances

• Who will recycle my old fridge or freezer?
• What do I do with a working fridge or freezer that I no longer want?
• What do I do with appliances like washers and dryers?
• Why do I have to pay to drop off my fridge at my local transfer station or landfill?
• Where can I take my microwave for recycling?
• What do I do with small appliances?

Automotive

• Where can I take used motor oil?
• What can I do with used antifreeze?
• Where can I take residential amounts of leftover gasoline?
• Where can I recycle my car battery?
• What can I do with my old junk car?

Batteries

• What can I do with exhausted rechargeable batteries?
• What happens to returned household alkaline and/or rechargeable batteries?
• What can I do with household alkaline batteries?

Beverage Containers

• What does BC's deposit/refund program cover?
• Can I return my milk or soya containers to a bottle depot?
• Is there a deposit on drink boxes?
• Are alcoholic beverage containers included under BC's beverage container deposit/refund schedule?
• Where can I take "ready-to-drink" beverage containers with no limits on quantity?
• Can I take my beverage containers back to where I purchased them?
• I was charged a "Recycling Fee" when I purchased beverages at the store. What is the Recycling Fee?

Electronic Waste

• I’ve heard my computer has heavy metals in it. Is that true?
• What can I do with my old computer?
  
• What can I do with obsolete electronic equipment?
• What can I do with my old cell phone?

Glass

• Why isn’t window glass accepted in my recycling program?
• Can I put a broken jar into the recycling bin?
• Where can I recycle old eyeglasses?

Hazardous Products and Paint

• Where can I take old paint for recycling?
• What happens to the paint that is returned to the depots?
• Where can I get leftover paint?
• Why can't I take my paint thinner to my local paint depot?
• Where can I dispose of residential garden chemicals, like old pesticides?
• What can I do to avoid using toxic household cleaners?
• Where can I drop off out-dated or leftover medicine?
• What can I do with my empty propane tank?
• Why can't I put my leftover gyproc/drywall in the garbage?

Mercury-Containing Products

• I hear that CFL light bulbs and tubes contain mercury. Is this true?
• Where can I safely dispose of Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs and/or fluorescent light tubes?
• Is there a limit on how many bulbs I can return?
• Where can I safely dispose of mercury thermostats?
• What happens to thermostats once they are collected?

Municipal Recycling

• Do I have to peel the labels off glass bottles and jars?
• Where can I get a blue box for my home?
• Why does my business have to pay for recycling when it is picked up from my house for free?
• Where can I pick up a composter or a rain barrel?
• I just moved to a new municipality and they don't collect the same blue box materials as my old municipality. Why is that?

Paper

• Can disposable diapers be recycled?
• Where can I recycle my SuperPages phone books?
• Are hardcover books like textbooks and encyclopedias recyclable?

Recycled Products

• Where can I find reusable waste items such as plastic pails, fabric scraps, boxes, etc?
• Where can I get a used bathtub or other building materials?

Recycling at Work

• Why won’t the recycler pay us for our office paper, or at least pick it up for free?
• Are recyclable materials banned from the garbage?

Composting

• Why can’t I put grass and leaves in my city garbage?
• What materials should not go into the compost?
• Will backyard composting significantly reduce my garbage?
• I have heard that you can compost with worms. Is this true?