Stewardship Ontario Launches Orange Drop Campaign
Twenty two hazardous and special waste materials can now be returned to municipal recycling depots, retail collection counters, collection events and pharmacies across Ontario
Box program and the Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste (MHSW)
Program, has launched Orange Drop, a new program designed to help
make managing hazardous and special waste materials easier for
Ontario consumers to understand and to do.
In addition to including 22 waste materials that have been
designated for collection and recycling or safe disposal, the
program intends to make “the drop” more accessible for consumers by
adding more drop off options and locations.
“Our mandate”, says Stewardship Ontario CEO,
and continuously improve recycling programs that are both
environmentally and economically sustainable. At Stewardship
Ontario, we are focused on extending the life of our landfills, and
keeping our water and natural environment free of waste. Consumers
expect it and the industries that fund the programs require
it.”
Orange Drop builds upon the original
2008 MHSW program which introduced nine waste material categories,
including products such as paints and solvents, which were
designated for environmentally-safe recycling and
disposal.
As of July 1, 2010, thirteen new
categories, covering thousands of products, have been added to the
Orange Drop list which now includes: batteries, pharmaceuticals,
sharps and syringes, aerosol containers, antifreeze, drain cleaners
and other corrosives, spot removers and other irritants,
fertilizers, fire extinguishers, fuels and other flammables,
fluorescents, moth balls and other leachate toxics, thermometers
and other mercury containing devices, oil containers, oil filters,
paint and coatings, pesticides, pressurized containers, metal
powders and other reactives and adhesives and other toxics.
“Orange Drop is designed to raise awareness about what is
considered a hazardous or special waste and to encourage Ontarians
to make returning these items part of their regular recycling
routine,” said Lyle Clarke, Vice
President, Operations, at Stewardship Ontario.
“This new program makes it easier for consumers to properly
dispose of these waste materials by expanding both the number of
materials and the number of drop-off locations. Several new retail
partners have joined the program as collection sites or “drop
zones” for specific materials such as batteries, paint and
pharmaceuticals. As well, we will have more collection events
designed to accommodate under serviced areas.”
Ontarians will now have access to:
- 92 municipal recycling depots -
collecting all 22 materials - 238 retail collection sites - for
paint and batteries - 500 retail collection sites - just
for batteries - 2700 pharmacies - for
pharmaceuticals, sharps and syringes (to ensure those materials are
safely collected and disposed of)
Approximately 217 collection events have also been organized
across the province in the coming months to give consumers other
opportunities for returning these materials,
“The Orange Drop program is the most comprehensive hazardous and
special waste program in North
America. By collecting a variety of materials under one
umbrella, we are able to take advantage of economies of scale and
achieve more cost effective and performance driven processing and
recycling, “adds Clarke.
Items collected through the Orange Drop program will be sent to
designated centres to be reprocessed into new materials. Items that
cannot be recycled will be disposed of in the most safe and
environmentally-friendly way.
The Orange Drop advertising campaign will kick off
to provide consumers with information they need to make the drop.
Further, to help educate Ontarians about the Orange Drop program, a
mobile education tour will be travelling the province talking to
consumers at lifestyle events and fairs. To learn more about the
program and to find the Orange Drop location nearest you, please
visit title=”http://www.makethedrop.ca/”>http://www.makethedrop.ca/.
Stewardship Ontario is an organization
funded and governed by the industries (our stewards) that make and
market the products and packaging materials managed under the Blue
Box and Orange Drop recycling programs. For more information,
please visit target=”_blank”
title=”http://www.stewardshipontario.ca/”>http://www.stewardshipontario.ca/
Source: www.makethedrop.ca
