Understanding Orange Drop (MHSW)
The purpose of the Orange Drop Program is to recover as much of these materials as possible so they don’t end up in our landfills or waterways. Household hazardous wastes should not be thrown in the garbage or poured down sewers and drains. Instead, Make the Drop! When you bring your leftovers to a municipal HHW depot, collection event or retail drop-off location (available for paint and batteries) we ensure that they are recycled, reprocessed or safely disposed of.
Examples of products made from recycled Orange Drop materials include recycled paint, antifreeze, micronutrient fertilizer, plastics, and rebar.
With the help of residents across Ontario, the program diverted tens of millions of kilograms of hazardous waste from our landfills and waterways in 2010, making our province a healthier, cleaner and better place to live.
Orange Drop Facts
- Over 84 per cent of Ontarians have access to Orange Drop locations.
- Materials are accepted at local municipal facilities and collection events, retail stores, and other community sites. These include:
- 300+ annual collection events (find out when your next collection event is here)
83 municipal HHW depots - 10,000+ automotive service centre locations (antifreeze, oil containers,
oil filters) - 292 return-to-retail paint drop-off locations
- 716 battery drop-off locations
- 91 provincial parks (pressurized containers)
- 300+ annual collection events (find out when your next collection event is here)
- Industry provided $39.4 million to fund the program in 2010
- In 2010, the Orange Drop Program diverted through collection a total of 26,482 tonnes of waste from landfills and waterways. This includes:
- 11,165 tonnes of paints and coatings – comparable to the weight of 2,427 adult African elephants
- 7,958 tonnes of oil filters which is equal to the weight of 151 City of Toronto transport trucks filled with Blue Box recycling
- 761 tonnes of single-use dry-cell batteries which is equivalent to the weight of 48 school buses
The Orange Drop Tour
Consumer outreach activities are vital in our efforts to increase awareness of and participation in the Orange Drop program. In 2010 our Orange Drop promotion and education tour attended 86 events with a combined attendance of over 4.7 million people. The tour was so successful that we have continued our efforts in 2011. The 2011 promotion and education activities include:
- Consumer and Trade Shows
- Ontario Science Centre March Break sponsorship and outreach
- Toronto Harbourfront Summer outreach
- Public school classroom presentations
- Ontario Parks visits
- Fall fairs
- Municipal collection events
- Waste collection calendar advertising
To find out when we will be in your area, click here.
Why Should I Participate?
Materials collected through the Orange Drop program pose many health and safety risks. Improper disposal may lead to serious and lasting health risks and/or environmental damage. The Orange Drop program ensures that all materials collected are safely managed to end-of-life, diverting harmful substances from landfill, waterways and forests. In addition, many of these items contain materials that can be recovered, refined and reused in the manufacturing of new products, thereby reducing the need for virgin resources.
