Tips and FAQs

• Why is it so dangerous for these materials to be in landfills and recycling facilities?

  The risk of fire or explosion is especially high for material-collection vehicles, landfills, and recycling facilities because they contain significant amounts of paper and other flammable materials. The combination of easily flammable material, the type of machinery used, air, and large amounts of material in piles where sparks can smolder undetected for lengthy periods of time makes the presence of hazardous material especially dangerous.

• Hazardous Materials - Tips to Recycle the Right Way

  Follow these expert tips to help keep workers, facilities, and the environment safe from improperly disposed hazardous materials.

  1. Learn about the risks of hazardous materials: When they are incorrectly disposed of, a number of materials can be a health risk, cause personal injury, or even be fatal to collectors and processors. Hazardous materials can also cause destruction to recycling facilities and landfills. The City’s residential garbage and recycling collection services do not allow the following:

  • lithium-ion and household batteries
  • single-use propane and butane canisters
  • needles
  • flammable liquids
  • helium tanks
  • knives
  • flares
  • electronics
  • bear spray
  • ammunition
  • lighters
  • paint
     

  2. Read Warning Labels: Hazardous materials should be kept out of garbage and recycling bins as well as the waste stream. For example, when household batteries end up in landfills, they can leak toxic mercury and lead, which contaminate the soil and groundwater. Always read the label! Any container that still contains even small amounts of corrosive, toxic, flammable, or reactive components can cause major problems at landfill and recycling facilities. These containers are often labelled with hazard text/symbols such as CAUTION, WARNING, CORROSIVE, EXPLOSIVE, FLAMMABLE, POISONOUS, or TOXIC. These materials and containers should never be placed in your residential recycling bins. Please only place them in your garbage bin if the containers are completely empty.

  3. Take Action—Change Your Behaviour: Be part of the solution to help prevent tragedies. Do not put hazardous materials in your recycling bins, garbage cans, or drain/toilet. Some materials may be recycled, but they need to be taken to a specific recycling facility that can handle and manage the material properly. It is also important to ensure containers that can be recycled—either through residential recycling or through a specific location—are empty.

• Why isn't all household hazardous waste accepted at the Mission Flats landfill all year?

  Mission Flats Landfill is a depot for some of the regulated provincial recycling programs for different types of hazardous waste, such as paint, gasoline and pesticides.  Not all hazardous waste is regulated, so there are no year-round programs for every type of hazardous waste. The programs that are in place have specific requirements, such as products must be in their original packaging and labels must be intact.

• What about Asbestos?

  The City of Kamloops and its landfill contractors follow specific safety protocols for managing known asbestos-containing materials at our landfill sites. Asbestos waste is a hazardous material and must never be included in your household garbage.

  The City, in partnership with the TNRD, has new disposal procedures to help protect workers, residents, and the environment. Learn more here.