Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste

You already recycle in your blue box – and that’s good. But did you know there’s a recycling program designed especially for the household products that require special care – items known as hazardous or special waste – when they’ve reached the end of their useful lives?

That’s where Stewardship Ontario’s Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste (MHSW) program comes into play. The idea is simple – to do a better job of recovering these materials, so they won’t end up being poured down drains or sewers or directed to landfills where they can cause a real threat to our health and our environment.

Paint colours our world. Petroleum products keep things moving. Batteries power the devices we use to remain connected, informed and entertained. It’s estimated that Canadian families buy 40 to 50 different kinds of hazardous products, such as paint, cleaners, and pesticides every year.

While we’ve taken these products for granted for years, our stewards – the companies that make and market these items – take their commitment to managing these throughout their entire lifecycle seriously. We work with municipalities and leading retailers to enhance recovery of these wastes, both through education and by making the process more convenient.

When you bring your leftovers and containers to a collection centre, we’ll ensure that they’re reused or recycled into new materials – like recycled paint, antifreeze and plastics or good-as-new raw materials for manufacturing. When we can’t reuse or recycle what we collect, we’ll handle disposal in the most environmentally friendly way possible.

What’s in store

Since 2008, Stewardship Ontario has been collecting nine types of materials classified as hazardous or special waste. These include household paints, solvents, such as thinners for paint, lacquer and contact cement, used oil filters and empty oil containers and single-use batteries. Starting July 2010, we’re expanding our program to include even more of the products you have around your home that can be harmful to you, your children and pets – and our environment. We’re adding an additional 13 materials to our list of designated material types for a total of 22 materials in all.

Find out what you can do to make our MHSW program a success.