Update: The recyling program between ATMO and Toys R Us for child car seats has ended in 2026. In 2023 ATMO and Babies R Us came together to recycle child car seats for the next three years. Please check with the product manufacturer of your child car seat to see if they have a recycling program.
Did you know that it’s almost Waste Reduction Week (WRW) in Canada? To celebrate WRW the third week of October, this month’s “Take Action Burlington” posts are dedicated to what you can do to keep your old things out of the landfill.
Child car and booster seats
Unless you have little ones in your life that use a car seat, you probably don’t know that car seats have an expiry date. This may have you asking, “why do car seats expire?”
Transport Canada says there are several reasons:
- Frequent use and exposure to sunlight can damage and weaken plastic;
- Things spill and seats need to be cleaned so webbing, buckles, adjusters and other parts may stop working safely;
- The history or condition of the car seat or booster seat becomes hard to check. For example, was it in a crash? Was it stored in a way that caused damage to some parts?;
- Safety regulations and standards may have changed, so safer products may now be on the market; and
- If you’re not the original owner, you may miss safety recalls.
So how many car seats are we talking about? A whopping 250,000 car seats used in Ontario might end up in landfills each year! Thanks to a company called Red Propeller, you can keep your used car seat out of the landfill for a small fee.
Who is ATMO Recycling Ltd?
ATMO is a social impact recycling company that keeps unwanted recyclable material, such as child car seats, out of the landfill and employs people with physical, mental or social barriers.
Did you know?
You can set up an appointment to visit Red Propeller’s facility to learn about the process first hand? If interested, please visit redpropeller.ca/car-seat-recycling.
Take Action Burlington. With a little effort, we can recycle those hard to recycle items. Collectively, we can make a difference!
This post has been updated three times. First update was in Dec. 2021 to note that the program no longer appeared to be active (https://atmo.ca/). The second update was in Jan. 2024 to note that in 2023 ATMO and Babies R Us came together to recycle child car seats for the next three years. All Toys R Us/Babies R Us locations in Ontario accepted expired, damaged or outgrown child car seats for recycling. The third update was in Apr. 2026 to note that Toys R Us is no longer accepting child car seats for recycling. Please check with the product manufacturer of your child car seat to see if they have a recycling program.
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