Time to take out the (toxic) trash

By Lethbridge Herald on October 3, 2025.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The City of Lethbridge is hosting another Beyond-the-Bin Recycling Roundup to collect items that cannot be disposed of in residential blue and black bins on Saturday at Park Place mall.

Lisa Sutherland, waste diversion co-ordinator with the City of Lethbridge, says the event provides an opportunity for residents to disposed of hazardous waste in a convenient way and in a more central location. 

“This would be the sixth event that has been held for the roundup of these materials. And we are encouraging residents to bring anything that shouldn’t be in their bins.”

She says some of those items include:

• Electronics (corded and cordless/battery powered) 

• Paint, solvent, stain and related items 

• Used oil 

• Batteries 

Anything that displays a hazard symbol (corrosive, flammable, reactive/explosive, toxic/poisonous), including but not limited to: 

• Pesticides and herbicides

• Cleaning products 

• Automotive cleaning and maintenance products 

• Aerosol containers 

But not everything is accepted, some of the items people will not be able to drop off include anything over 20 litres (five gallons), needles or biomedical materials and large appliances.  

“We do have year-round free disposal of these materials at the Waste and Recycling Centre, but a lot of people don’t make the trip out there, so this makes it easier for them to bring it to a central location,” says Sutherland. 

If people are unsure whether their items can be accepted, they can check out the Waste Wizard on the city’s website at lethbridge.ca or contact 311 to learn more about “what’s in what’s out.”

“If you have any questions about any materials, you have that are not listed on the Waste Wizard, and as long as it is safe to do so, please bring it to the event,” says Sutherland. “And if you have any firearms, please call Lethbridge Police.”

She says these events provide an opportunity to disposed of materials the proper way, as some of them are dangerous for the environment if they were to end up in the landfill when disposed of with regular garbage. 

“Household cleaners, fertilizers and insecticides, are all really bad for ground water and we would like to keep that stuff out of the ground, and if it goes to a landfill it ends up in the ground,” says Sutherland. 

This in turn protects workers at the recycling centre from chemicals and fumes when handling the materials, and batteries can be very dangerous as they are flammable, and they need to keep them out of the Waste and Recycling Centre. 

“Electronics are full of recyclable materials and metals, so people at the centre take apart the electronics, they take out all of the usable metals, and recycle the plastics,” says Sutherland. 

The event will take place on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the northwest parking lot of the Park Place Mall and Sutherland says people should not be waiting in line for more than a few minutes. 

“There will be many helpful hands to help you unload your vehicle, you won’t even have to get out. Last year we were able to process 1,400 cars throughout the day,” says Sutherland. 

The last six events have stopped some 130 tons of household hazardous waste and electronics from going into the landfill.