Where to sell scrap metal in Toronto

Under O. Reg. 463/10 (Ozone Depleting Substances and Other Halocarbons), made under the Environmental Protection Act, section 41(1) provides that a person shall not dismantle, destroy, recycle, incinerate or dispose of by landfilling refrigeration equipment, or a container that has contained a refrigerant, unless a notice has been affixed under section 32 and the disposal is carried out in a manner authorized under the Act. Only a person certified under section 34 may make that determination, and the notice must show the date, the certified person's name, their certificate number and its expiry, their employer, and a statement that the equipment no longer contains refrigerant. The definition in section 1 covers air-conditioning, heat pump, refrigeration and freezer units, including a motor-vehicle air conditioner, but only "where that unit is designed to contain, contains or has contained" a class 1 or class 2 ozone depleting substance or a halocarbon. That qualifier matters both ways. There is no household exemption, so an ordinary kitchen fridge or window air conditioner charged with a halocarbon refrigerant is covered, which is nearly every older unit. But a unit charged with a hydrocarbon refrigerant instead — R-600a isobutane or R-290 propane, now common in newer domestic fridges and freezers — contains no halocarbon and arguably falls outside the definition, so check the nameplate before assuming either way. A refrigerant dehumidifier is substantively a refrigeration unit but is not named in the definition. Section 41(2) carries an exemption for dismantling during manufacture, which will not help you. This is the reason yards refuse these units or charge a degassing fee. Text current to the consolidation of 30 August 2024, last amendment O. Reg. 336/24.

The Federal Halocarbon Regulations, 2022 (SOR/2022-110) are frequently quoted in disposal advice as though they bind every homeowner. Mostly they do not, but the scope has two limbs and the second one is easy to miss. Section 2(1) applies the Regulations to systems owned by the Crown in right of Canada, a board or agency of the Government of Canada, a Crown corporation or a federal work or undertaking — and, separately, to systems located on aboriginal lands or federal lands, whoever owns them. So a privately owned domestic refrigerator or window air conditioner in an ordinary house falls outside the Regulations, while the identical fridge on a reserve or in federal housing falls inside them, because that second limb turns on location rather than ownership. For everyone else, the rule that actually governs scrapping your appliance is provincial, which is why it matters which province you are in.

Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 844 (Waste Collection, Residential Properties), section 844-23.C provides that no person shall "pick over, interfere with, disturb, remove or scatter any waste set out for collection" unless authorized to do so by the General Manager. Section 844-8 treats metal goods as a special collection service with its own set-out requirements rather than as ordinary garbage. We read Toronto's chapter because Toronto is the largest market this page serves. We have not read the equivalent bylaw for any other city, and collection regimes differ enormously between municipalities, so look up your own rather than assuming this one travels. Chapter current to 11 February 2025, as amended by By-law 104-2025.