With all the various objects we have at home, it’s difficult to always know where to dispose of them when the time comes. Entraide diabétique du Québec accepts all clothing and small household items in good condition in its donation bins and at its home pick-ups. It is of the utmost importance to make your donations in a thoughtful and respectful way in order to help us in our mission. So to help you out, EDQ has put together a quick rundown of what we DON’T accept and where you can drop off those items instead.
A quick reminder of the items we don’t accept at EDQ
It may seem logical, but hazardous items, used furniture or large items, medium and large electronics, and construction or renovation materials are not accepted in our donation bins or at our home pick-ups. Items that are not accepted and garbage give rise to a lot of unnecessary costs to our organization, hindering us in carrying out our mission.
Here is the list of items not to donate:
- Appliances
- Firearms or knives
- Shingles
- BBQs
- Wood
- Cassettes
- Ashtrays
- Chairs
- Paint containers / paint
- Computer monitors
- Newspapers / magazines
- Baby crib
- Books
- Mattresses
- Explosive or hazardous materials
- Furniture of any kind
- Food
- Computers
- Piano
- Tires
- Jars or bottles
- Magazines
- Children’s car seats
- Window blinds
- Wall-to-wall carpeting
- Televisions
How do you dispose of all this?
Now that you know what you can’t give us, here are a few ways to help you dispose of those bulky items and materials…
Your electronics: Thanks to the Recycle my electronics initiative, which has been in existence for more than 10 years, you may take your no-longer-used items to one of the 1,000 official recycling drop-off points in Quebec.
Your used oil and explosive or hazardous materials: Canadian Tire Auto Centres usually have a bin with the GO ECO logo where you can recycle your containers of used oil and other hazardous products. A number of mechanical shops and municipalities also offer drop-off services. Find a drop-off point registered with SOGHU (Société de gestion des huiles usagées), which manages a program for the recovery and reclamation of used oil and for public awareness.
You can also give them your old aerosol cans, filters, anti-freeze and anti-freeze containers.
Your furniture or household appliances in good condition: Check with your municipality to find out the best way to dispose of your bulky items, hassle-free. Your city or town will be able to guide you to the furniture and other large object recovery organizations in your area.
Your construction materials: At the ecocentre in your municipality or region. Recyc-Québec (in French only) lists 300 ecocentres in Quebec—a number that is constantly growing. You can also use the mobile app ÇA VA OÙ? (in French only) to help you sort them well.
Your recyclables: Paper, glass, metal, cardboard and plastic go in the recycling bin. The Tricentris website helps you with your sorting.
In short, it is important to dispose of your belongings properly to avoid cluttering up other institutions unnecessarily or having them end up in a landfill site, whenever it’s possible to recover them. Giving a second life to these items or having them recycled by specialized companies greatly helps our planet. Entraide diabétique du Québec doesn’t collect these items for safety and space reasons, since we don’t have the facilities to handle all these materials and items that can be dangerous. Remember that every little effort counts to take care of our environment.
