Recycling FAQs

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

Appliances

• Who will recycle my old fridge or freezer?
• My fridge or freezer is still working. Can I donate it?
• Can I recycle large 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?
• I can't transport my appliances. Will anyone come pick them up?

Automotive

• Where can I take used motor oil, oil filters, and oil containers in residential quantities?
• What can I do with residential amounts of used antifreeze?
• What can I do with larger amounts of used motor oil and antifreeze?
• Where can I take residential amounts of leftover gasoline?
• Why does my local recycling depot insist on keeping my gas can?
• 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 can I do with household alkaline batteries?
• What can I do with my hearing aid batteries?
• Why do I need to recycle small batteries? Are batteries toxic?
• What happens to returned household alkaline and/or rechargeable batteries?
• My organization or company generates a lot of batteries on a regular basis. What can I do to recycle them?

Beverage Containers

• What does BC's deposit/refund program cover?
• Can I return my milk or soya containers to a bottle depot?
• Why won't the bottle depot take my soup and broth tetra-paks?
• Is there a deposit on drink boxes?
• Are alcoholic beverage containers included under BC's beverage container deposit/refund schedule?
• Why does the bottle depot only give me a partial refund for my beer bottles?
• 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?
• Can I put my empty beverage containers in my blue box?
• I was charged a "Recycling Fee" when I purchased beverages at the store. What is the Recycling Fee?
• Do I need to prepare my beverage containers before taking them to the bottle depot?

Composting

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

Electronic Waste

• I’ve heard my computer has heavy metals in it. Is that true?
• What products are included in the provincial electronic recycling program? 
• How can I make sure my old electronics don't get sent to recycling facilities overseas? 
• Why am I charged an Environmental Handling Fee (EHF) when I purchase new electronics?
• What can I do with my old computer?
  
• What can I do with my old audio and video systems? 
• What can I do with non-cellular phones and answering machines?
• What can I do with my old cell phone?
• My electronics are still in good working order. Can I donate them? 
• I have sensitive materials on my computer. How do I ensure they are destroyed?

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

• What is Extended Producer Responsibility?
• What are some examples of EPR?
• Who decides what products are included in EPR programs?  

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?
• Can my empty paint cans go into my garbage can or blue box?
• 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?
• Where can I take my asbestos-containing drywall?
• How do I recycle my smoke alarm or carbon monoxide alarm?

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?
• What happens to the fluorescent bulbs I drop off at LightRecycle depots?
• I paid an eco-fee on the CFL I purchased. Will I receive a refund when I bring the burnt out bulb in for recycling?
• Where can I safely dispose of mercury thermostats?
• What happens to thermostats once they are collected?
• What can I do with liquid mercury?

Miscellaneous

• Can disposable diapers be recycled?
• Where can I take my spent Brita filters?

Municipal Recycling

• Do I have to peel the labels off glass bottles and jars?
• Where can I get a blue box for my home?
• 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

• Where can I recycle my phone books?
• Are hardcover books like textbooks and encyclopedias recyclable?
• What can I do with shredded paper?

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?
• Why does my business have to pay for recycling when it is picked up from my house for free?
• Are recyclable materials banned from the garbage?
• What resources are available for businesses that want to start recycling?