Sour, Sweet + Seriously Fun: Candy Can’s Founder On The Brand’s Wild New Toxic Waste Collab

Candy lovers, brace your tastebuds. Candy Can—the Canadian beverage brand turning nostalgic treats into fizzy, flavour-packed sips—just dropped its boldest launch yet: two sparkling drinks inspired by the legendary sour candy icon, Toxic Waste. With Toxic Waste Sour Apple and Toxic Waste Blue Razz now hitting Canadian shelves, we sat down with Founder Sander de Jonge to chat flavour thrills, candy culture, and why this electrifying collaboration might be the brand’s most exciting adventure to date. —Noa Nichol

Toxic Waste® is famous for making people’s faces scrunch into origami. What was the “aha!” moment when you realized, “Yep… we need to turn THAT into a drink”?

Everyday we are trying to find our new flavours to keep surprising our loyal customers. For the new Candy Can x Toxic Waste flavours, the moment came during a team tasting session where someone joked, “we need something nuclear, something people don’t expect.” Everyone laughed, and then we all had the same quiet pause of realization that this could be a great idea. Toxic Waste® is iconic because of its naming and of the anticipation: the countdown, the bravery, the sourness. A drink could deliver that same thrill but in a completely new way. That was the spark. We wanted to bottle the challenge, literally.

Between Sour Apple and Blue Razz, which flavour caused the biggest “sour shock” moment during testing — and who on your team handled it like a champ (or not at all)?

Well, just try and eat one of the Toxic Waste candies yourself, you know what we are talking about 😉 dare to try this sour challenge.

Our drinks are not as sour as the Toxic Waste candies, we wanted to make something as cool as Toxic Waste candies but easily drinkable down to the last drop.

Candy Can is all about nostalgia. What’s the most unexpected childhood memory that resurfaced while creating these Toxic Waste flavours?

What surprised me most was remembering those long summer days when we’d hang around corner shops deciding which candy felt like the ultimate treasure. There was something magical about the colours, the wrappers, and that feeling of picking “the one” you’d show off to your friends.

While creating these Toxic Waste® flavours, that exact sense of childlike ceremony came back,  the excitement of unwrapping something bold, fun, and a little rebellious. It reminded me of why Candy Can exists in the first place: to bring back that spark of playful curiosity we all had as kids.

If you could design the ultimate “sour challenge” showdown using the new drinks, what would it look like — and which flavour do you think would make the most dramatic reactions?

I imagine a giant arena-style setup, bright lights, countdown clock, slow-motion reactions. Contestants would take a Toxic Waste candy, hold a straight face for as long as possible, and then sip a Candy Can flavour.  Every micro-twitch is captured in ultra-close-up HD. Second round, two candies at the same time with a sip, third round 3 candies at the same time with a sip….no 4th round for sure!

You’ve turned classic candies into cans. What other nostalgic treat is on your dream list for future collaborations — and how wild are you willing to get?

We’re absolutely open to getting weird, in the best way. We love to explore partnerships with nostalgic treats people have loved for decades. If it made our childhoods chaotic, colourful or slightly questionable… it belongs in a can. Some amazing new brand collaborations are already lined-up for 2026 season, but I can not tell you more at the moment, but I’m sure it will be BIG ☺ Think about bubblegum and soft chews!