Study: Disposal of household special wastes in 2005

Statscan - Despite the environmental, health and safety risks posed by improper disposal of household special waste, many of these items such as expired medication and dead batteries end up on the curb, according to a new study.

The study, "Disposal of household special wastes," published today in EnviroStats, Statistics Canada's quarterly bulletin on environmental and sustainable development statistics, found that many Canadian households are putting these special waste items into their normal garbage.

The study focused on four special wastes for which information was collected in the 2006 Households and the Environment Survey: dead batteries; leftover or expired medication; old computer and communication equipment; and leftover paint.

The survey asked householders what, if anything, they had done with the waste if they had such materials in their home in 2005.

For example, only about one-quarter of households used controlled methods of disposal for dead batteries, returning them to a depot, drop-off centre or supplier.

Nearly half of households returned leftover or expired drugs to a pharmacy, depot or drop-off centre, which provided more controlled methods of disposal. In total, 4 in 10 placed this waste with their regular garbage, flushed it down the drain or buried it.

The one bright spot was old paint. More than half of households with leftover paint used special waste depots or returned it to suppliers.

Overall, 6 in 10 households place batteries in the trash

Almost half of households reported having dead batteries to discard in 2005. Of these, 60% put old batteries in with their household garbage.

Just over a quarter of households used controlled methods of disposal, returning batteries to a depot, drop-off centre or supplier. The remaining households used other methods of disposal or still had the batteries at home.

Households in Prince Edward Island were the exception. It was the only province where controlled disposal methods were more commonly used than battery disposal in regular household garbage.

More than half of these households used controlled methods of disposal, while only 31% tossed batteries in the trash.

Leftover pharmaceuticals: Less than half of households use controlled methods of disposal

Nearly a quarter of all households in Canada had leftover or expired drugs in 2005. Almost half of these households returned the products to a pharmacy, depot or drop-off centre, which provided more controlled methods of disposal.

Note to readers

Data on special waste disposal methods are reported as a percentage of the households that declared having special waste at home in 2005.

Uncontrolled disposal methods could include discarding household special waste with regular household garbage, flushing it down the drain or burying it.

Another 39% of households placed this waste with their regular garbage, flushed it down the drain or buried it. The remaining households still had it at home at the time of the survey and may not have known what to do with it.

Pharmaceutical sales have boomed. Between 1998 and 2006, sales of prescription and non-prescription drugs (including over-the-counter medication, vitamins and supplements) increased from $11.8 billion to $21.8 billion.

Often these medications are kept in the cabinet until expiry dates have passed. Uncontrolled disposal such as throwing leftover pharmaceuticals in the trash or flushing them down the drain can pose a risk to the environment.

Households in different parts of the country dealt with these unwanted pharmaceuticals in a wide range of ways. Almost two-thirds of households with pharmaceutical waste in Quebec and Prince Edward Island returned the products to a pharmacy, drop-off centre or depot for disposal.

However, more than two-thirds of households in Newfoundland and Labrador discarded leftover and expired medication with their regular garbage, flushed it down the drain or buried it.

More than a third of households store their old computers and communication equipment at home

Computers and other information technology (IT) and telecom devices such as cell phones constantly change to keep pace with technological advances. Consequently, these items are frequently replaced.

IT and telecom products can contain hazardous substances such as lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium. Consumers can take old equipment to special waste depots and drop-off centres or return them to suppliers for processing and recycling.

Almost half of households with an unwanted computer or communication device gave the item away, left it at a drop-off depot or returned it to a supplier.

In 2005, over a third of households still had old IT waste at home in storage and may not have known what to do with it, while 16% of households put the item in the trash and 5% used other methods of disposal.

Households in Alberta were most likely to donate used equipment, take it back to a supplier or use a depot or drop-off centre.

Leftover paint: more than half of households use controlled disposal

In 2005, 29% of households had leftover paint they wanted to discard. Just over half (54%) returned it to a special waste depot or a supplier for disposal.

The majority of the remainder (38%) reported that they still had it at home, possibly because they did not know what to do with it.

Only a small proportion of households (4%) put leftover paint in the trash. There were very few differences provincially.