What to do with Toxic Waste?

And what happens to electronics that are recycled?

The Town and Municipal District (MD) of Bonnyville held their annual toxic roundup and electronic recycling drive on Saturday at the Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority station house. The event was a success, with more participants than previous years, says Brad Ollen, Waste Management Supervisor, with the MD of Bonnyville.

Common items collected were household chemicals, paint, fuel, fluorescent tubes and electronics. Ollen explains it’s important to recycle these items, rather than leave them around the house or dump into the environment, “there’s always places for these items to go. For example when the fluorescent tubes get recycled, the gas gets pulled out of them and the plastic tubes get recycled.” Ollen explains there’s only so much room for waste, “it’s nice to divert these items from a hole in the ground. Eventually, those holes fill up and you have to find another one.”

As for electronics, the Town & MD hire a third party recycling company that ensures the safety of the individuals. “Electronics all go to the recycler and everything’s destroyed. The metal is all broken down, the plastic is stripped, the wired are stripped. Anything that could identify an individual is stripped. Every piece is taken apart.No personal information is compromised.”

If you missed the roundup, you can still take any of your household chemicals, batteries, paint, etc to any one of the MD’s seven landfill locations or to the Town’s transfer station.