Waste Reduction Week

Fix it first!

Repairing items is a great way to save money, learn new skills, and support your local repair shops and tradespeople.

Register for an upcoming Repair Café

Repair Cafés are free events where residents can bring their broken items to be fixed.

• York Region offers a series of Repair Cafés, hosted at local libraries and community spaces. Find a Repair Café near you. 

DIY Tools and Techniques

With the right tools, techniques and help, you can fix it yourself!

• Markham Cycles offers drop-in events to learn how to fix your bike. For the schedule for this program, check out the events calendar. 

Be resourceful – If it can’t be repaired, repurpose!

When something no longer works as it was intended, give it a second life.

Ideas:

• Reimagine what do with your broken items like stylish ways to repurpose a broken rake  
• Need parts and pieces for your DIY projects? Pop into Markham ReStore for sustainable shopping.

35 Million Pound Milestone (Oct 2016 to Oct 2024) 

Thank you Markham residents for your ongoing community support!

Markham's Textile Recycling Program has reached over 15,875,732 kg of donated unwanted clothing and textiles; diverting valuable resources away from landfill for reuse and recycling.

The City of Markham became the first municipality in North America to ban textiles in curbside waste collection in April 2017. Since the program has grown to over 160 public access locations and 63 multi-residential properties, Markham bins are easy to find!

Drop off all your clean, unwanted textiles - including damaged items, even single socks and shoes!

Learn more about Markham's Textile Recycling Program.

Think before you throw! Try these fun upcycling activities for the whole family:

• On the Go Tic-Tac-Toe
• No-sew Wash Cloth Teddy Bear 

E-Waste Drop-off Events a big success!

Markham residents show their ongoing support for the community and the environment — 79,000 pounds (35,800 kilograms) of unwanted electronics collected this summer! Thank you to the Lion's Club for hosting the events.

Unwanted or broken electronics including all accessories like keyboards and cords should never be put in the blue box or garbage. Electronics are hazardous to the environment and most components – steel, glass, copper, aluminum, plastics, and other precious metals – can be recycled into new products. Learn more about electronic waste.

Electronic equipment in good working condition should be donated to a local charity, such as the Salvation Army Thrift Store or ReStore Markham. Call ahead to confirm if your item is acceptable.

If it no longer works, drop it off at the Markham Household Hazardous Waste Depot for responsible recycling.

Protect Your Privacy!

• Clear all personal information from computers, cell phones and electronics prior to drop off. The City is not responsible for personal information contained on your electronic devices
• Remove all batteries from electronic items and drop off at any Recycling Depot
• Not sure how to dispose of an item? Use the What Goes Where Tool!

Reduce Your Single-use - Start with Styrofoam

Styrofoam is a plastic; it will never biodegrade and will continue to pollute our environment. In 2020, Markham recognized the dangerous increase of Styrofoam headed for landfill and banned Styrofoam packaging from curbside pickup.

The good news is that Markham provides residents with a cost-effective recycling option by accepting clean Styrofoam packaging and food trays at all Markham Recycling Depots.  

Well Done Markham!

In 2023, over 75 tonnes of Styrofoam was diverted from landfill – that’s the same as 7 school buses. Year after year, the Styrofoam Recycling program increases in not only diversion of Styrofoam but has directly resulted in the following positive impacts:  

• Decreased wind-blown street litter from curbside set-outs
• Increased recycling of other accepted depot materials like plastic bags
• Creation of local jobs at the Recycling Depots and the Styrofoam processing facility 

Fat, Oils & Grease (F.O.G.) Friday and every day!

What is F.O.G.?

F.O.G. products are anything that contains fats (such as saturated animal fats), oils (such as unsaturated plant fats) and grease.

Common examples of F.O.G. include:

• Cooking oils (canola or olive oil, non-stick pan sprays)
• Food scraps and leftover grease
• Condiments (ketchup, curry paste)
• Spreads (butter, margarine, cream cheese, jam)
• Sauces (gravy, marinara)
• Salad Dressings

Goes in the Green Bin!

When organic material goes into landfill it releases methane into the atmosphere, which is a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Putting your food waste in the green bin, ensures it will be turned into a valuable nutrient in compost when broken down in an anaerobic digester. This process captures the methane to produce renewable natural gas. 

Protect Your Pipes!

Never pour any fats, oils or grease down the drain or toilet. Not even hot water and soap will stop F.O.G from hardening and clogging your pipes! Clogged pipes can cause flooding and sewer backups in houses and condos.

Simply wipe, scrape or pour your F.O.G. into the green bin.

Learn more about how F.O.G. Clogs.

Be a circular shopper - choose access over ownership!

Now that you know it’s important to repair and reuse things as many times as possible, consider borrowing and lending items versus buying new. Did you know you can rent almost everything from a prom dress to power tools to camping gear? 

Choosing access over ownership:

• Saves money; saves storage space
• Reduces the demand to produce new things  
• Increases manufacturers’ responsibility to make longer-lasting products

Instead of buying, borrow what you can

By shifting your family’s buying habits to consume less and borrow more, it makes you a circular shopper in a sharing economy. 

To help you get started, check out Markham Public Libraries, they allow you to borrow more than just books! They offer items that you might only need to use once in a while, like sports equipment and hand tools.  

Explore and borrow items from the Markham Public Library Lendery

See what items are available to borrow from Markham Public Library Share List  

Another great way to save money, declutter your home, find things for free, and connect with your community is to take part in clothing swaps, visit consignment shops or shop and share items online.  

It's Fashionable to be Sustainable! 

Check out these locations for great second-hand deals:

• Salvation Army Thrift Store 
• Value Village
• Style Encore - Markham
• Plato's Closet

Shift to thrift - Find more deals online

• Facebook Marketplace
• Kijiji
• Poshmark
• ThredUp