Orange Drop Program at Ontario Parks

Photo by Evan Holt

One of my favourite parts of camping is reaching into my backpack and pulling out the components to assemble a mini-kitchen. Lightweight cutlery and plates along with a stove and fuel. The problem however after numerous delicious meals, is what to do with the empty propane cylinder. To try and solve this issue, Ontario Parks partnered with Stewardship Ontario in 2009 and started setting up Orange Drop bins in parks. How successful was this?  In 2011, Ontario Parks and Stewardship Ontario were able to divert 102,000 kg of cylinders from our landfills!

According to Cheryl Moore (who is an Assistant Park Superintendent for Bass Lake, Mara and McRae Point Provincial Parks)...

"Thanks to Stewardship Ontario, we now have nearly 400 Orange Drop cages in 85 of our most frequently visited parks.

Algonquin collected 123 drums of cylinders in 2011, compared to the two drums that were collected in 2010 before the Orange Drop cages were in place."

Stewardship Ontario's Orange Drop Program is fully funded by the producers of the materials that are recycled or disposed safely through the program, and it covers all costs associated with the program. Learn more about Orange Drop on their website and stay up to date on the latest into through their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The Ministry of Natural Resources' Aviation and Forest Fire Emergency Services Branch in Thunder Bay, operates a Propane Bottle Recycler. This is a mobile unit, which processes and recycles the metal in an environmentally safe way. Photos by Vicki Bradfield.