Nearly a year after scrapping most of Ontario's controversial eco fees, the governing Liberals say the province will return to "the dark days" of throwing hazardous materials in the garbage if the Progressive Conservatives win the Oct. 6 election.

"This election is about whether we go back to the old days when people would routinely throw their old cans of paint and their tires and their computers and cellphones in the garbage, where they would end up in landfills," Environment Minister John Wilkinson said Thursday.

The Tories have promised to scrap the remaining eco fees charged to consumers to dispose of batteries, paint cans, computers and other electronics, compact fluorescent light bulbs, prescription drugs and fire extinguishers.

No one likes extra fees, but it's much cheaper than trying to manage the environmental mess left if toxic materials end up contaminating our landfills and groundwater, Wilkinson said.

"While there are costs today of properly managing these wastes, it is much less than paying the long-term costs to clean up contaminated land and water and the costs to people's health," said Wilkinson.

A consumer backlash prompted the Liberals to quickly scrap the eco fees imposed last July 1, the same day they also added the 13 per cent harmonized sales tax to a host of previously exempt goods, including gasoline, electricity and home heating fuels.

"We heard loud and clear from Ontarians that the additional items that were introduced last July didn't make sense," said Wilkinson.

Even retailers were confused by the wide range of fees slapped on 9,000 different products -- everything from household cleaners and laundry detergent to grass seed -- so the program was shut down within weeks.

"People were furious," recalls Progressive Conservative Ted Arnott. "I was getting more complaints at the time about that than the HST, because with the HST, at least people knew it was coming."

It was the Tories who created Waste Diversion Ontario, and scrapping the remaining eco fees will mean more hazardous materials going into dumps, said Wilkinson.

"The PC's reckless flip-flop will put us all at risk," he warned. "Ultimately it's about our health and the health of our children and their children."

The Conservatives said they will wipe out the eco fees on electronics and hazardous materials -- although they will keep the fees charged to dispose of tires. They also plan to consult local governments to make toxic waste is properly disposed.

"If we were to form the government we are firm in our commitment to scrap the eco fees on everyday items," said Arnott. "We would work with municipalities to ensure that the kinds of products that the minister referenced today would not be going into landfills."

Wilkinson promised the Liberals would not introduce new eco fees if they are re-elected, saying they learned their lesson with the failed program last summer.

"We're keeping the programs that we have now because they're effective," he said. "We cancelled the program that came out on July 1 because it didn't make sense. That program that we have today is working, and it is at risk because of Slickbook."

"Slickbook" is what the Liberals call the PC campaign platform, which the Tories labelled "Changebook." The Liberals have yet to release a campaign platform and haven't said when they plan to roll one out.

The government said the idea of eco fees is to make producers pay for the ultimate disposal of their products. But retailers can charge the fees directly to consumers as a separate tax, although the government won't call it that.

"A tax goes to government. This money does not go to the government," said Wilkinson. "This money goes to programs that are run by industry to ensure that their products do not end up in landfills and that they're safely recycled or disposed of."

The government said its eco fee program has helped divert over one million tonnes of waste each year from landfills.