6 common summer activities in Victoria that could produce hazardous waste

If you’re like many Victorians, your summer includes spending time outdoors or cooling off in the pool!

Whether we realize it or not, many of our summertime activities like the above can contribute to pollution and landfill fires if we’re not careful.

This summer, the Capital Regional District (CRD) is reminding us that one of the easiest ways to prevent this is by becoming hazardous waste aware.

Household hazardous waste (HHW) can be found in every home and includes batteries, paints, cleaners, motor oil, gasoline, pool chemicals, propane cylinders, pesticides, fertilizers and more.

Excess, expired or unwanted HHW items should never be put in the garbage or your curbside recycling, nor should they be poured down the drain or into the natural environment.

Improper disposal of HHW can pollute waterways, harm fish and potentially spark landfill fires—a big concern during the summer months!

Many people are unaware that HHW can be safely disposed of at the Hartland Depot for free, or you can search for HHW items here to find a list of alternate drop-off locations.

We’re all about keeping the outdoors fun and safe for everyone, so we’ve partnered with CRD to give away a $100 gift card to one lucky winner’s favourite outdoor store! You’ll find those contest details below.

6 common summer activities to be hazardous waste aware of this summer:

• Camping/BBQing – Be sure to safely store your propane tanks and cylinders and properly dispose of them once you’re done. Check out where you can take propane tanks and cylinders here  
• E-biking – Regular maintenance is important for maintaining e-bike and their batteries. It’s important if an e-bike battery has reached the end of its life that it’s recycled responsibly. Here’s a list of free drop-off locations!
• Relaxing in the pool or hot tub – Maintaining pools and hot tubs involve
  chemicals that are safe when used properly, but can cause fires if disposed of
  incorrectly. Unused or expired chemicals can be dropped off at the Hartland
  Depot for free.
• Outdoor painting – Summer is perfect for outdoor painting, but you don’t want spills washing into storm drains. Find out where leftover paint and paint cans can be recycled here
• Outdoor cleaning – Buy only what you need and safely store what you don’t use. Alternatively, you can DIY cleaning products!
• Gardening – Instead of using harsh pesticides and fertilizers, try your green thumb with natural gardening techniques and gardening with native plants

Be sure to handle with all hazardous waste with care and get it all there! For more information on household hazardous waste and drop-off locations, visit CRD online. 

CONTEST

For your chance to win $100 to your favourite outdoor store courtesy of the CRD, please complete one or more of the following:

1. LIKE Capital Regional District on Facebook and comment below to let us know you have (1 entry)
2. FOLLOW Capital Regional District on Instagram and comment below to let us know you have (1 entry)
3. SHARE this post on Facebook and/or and comment below to let us know you have (1 entry)

Contest entries will be accepted from the time and date of publishing until 11:59 pm on August 23rd, 2022. One winner will be chosen at random and contacted through the platform they used to enter.

Contest Guidelines