Add this waste counter to your site!

British Columbia

Name of Program	Return-It Program
Administering Agency	Encorp Pacific (Canada)
Containers Covered	All containers for ready-to-drink beverages
Beverages Covered	All ready-to-drink beverages except milk & milk substitutes
Deposits	Non-Alcohol: Up to & Including 1 Litre: 5¢ Over 1 L: 20 ¢ Alcohol: Up to & Including 1 Litre: 10¢ Over 1 L: 20 ¢
Handling Fees	Paid by Encorp to authorized Return-It™ Depots. The handling fee varies by container type and depot agreement.
Other Fees / Taxes	A Container Recycling Fee (CRF) is put on some beverage containers. Varies for each beverage container category.
Reclamation System	Return to retail or Return-It ™ Depots
Program Success	In 2007 over 1 billion beverage containers were collected and recycled and diverted from BC landfills.
Unredeemed Deposits	Used by Encorp to cover collection & recycling costs
Link to Legislation	Recycling Regulation, Schedule 1: Beverage Container Product Category

Details

All ready-to-drink beverages sold in British Columbia are subject to a deposit under the Recycling Regulation; however, milk & milk substitute products are excluded. Domestic beer in refillable bottles and any beer in aluminum cans, are part of the Brewers Distributors Ltd. plan. Alcohol beverage containers can be returned to Return-It depots but are not accepted at grocery stores as they are not sold in grocery stores. View Encorp's page on container types

Non-Alcoholic Beverages

British Columbia's deposit law is managed by Encorp Pacific, an industry consortium comprising the soft drink and grocery industries, with a program called the Return-It program. A multi-stakeholder advisory group (the Container Management Board) oversees the system. This board has no decision-making powers but advises the Minister on issues relating to the system. The Minister holds the power over decisions on the nature and evolution of the system.

Beverage containers can be returned either retailers or special Return-It depots regulated by Encorp. Retailers must, by law, take back what they sell, up to 24 containers per person per day. Encorp also suggests, "Alternatively, you may want to hold onto your containers so that they are ready when your community fundraising groups come knocking." While not subject to a deposit, milk containers can still be returned at depots for recycling.

Encorp provides the equipment and expertise for collecting containers, paying out deposits, processing containers and marketing the scrap materials. Depot operators register with Encorp and are kept a sufficient distance apart so they do not cannibalize each other's territory.

Financing the program

Encorp pays a handling fee to authorized Return-It™ Depots handling the returned beverage containers and preparing them for shipment to processors. The handling fee varies by container type and depot agreement.

Any unredeemed deposits are kept by Encorp to cover collection & recycling costs. After the unredeemed deposits have been depleted, a Container Recycling Fee (CRF) is put into place. The CRF is the fee Encorp charges to cover the net cost of recycling a beverage container type after any unredeemed deposits and commodity revenues for that container type have been used. The CRF varies for each beverage container category.  As a not-for-profit, product stewardship agency, Encorp Pacific only charges the net cost for recovering and recycling beverage containers.

For more information about the CRF, go to www.encorp.ca/recyclingfee.

Alcoholic Beverages

Wine and spirits are sold largely through government liquor stores as controlled by the British Columbia Liquor Commission (BCLC). The bottle depots handling non-alcoholic beverage returns also redeem wine and spirit deposits. 

Beer System

In BC, beer containers are not exempt from beverage container legislation. The system is still return-to-retail, operating as an independent system. Beer, wine and spirits are sold through government operated Liquor Commission stores and a limited number of Cold Beer and Wine stores, mostly attached to hotels. Refillable bottles are recovered for full deposit at the Liquor stores and the Cold Beer and Wine stores. Bottles that are returned to the Return-It depots are discounted by the depot operator who then returns the bottles to the brewers. 

• Deposit: $1.20 per dozen 
• Handling Fees: 5 cents/doz. to Liquor Commission and retailers. 12 cents/doz. to bottle wholesalers plus a 10 cents/doz. sorting fee. 
• Freight: Brewers pick up empties at their own cost. 
• Unredeemed Deposits: Retained by Brewers.

History

British Columbia's beverage container recovery system, enacted in 1970, is the oldest legislated deposit-return system in North America. On October 1, 1998, BC's Beverage Container Stewardship Program Regulation (now known as Recycling Regulation,1 see especially Schedule 1) went into effect to address changes in beverage container packaging, particularly the growth of 'new age' beverages. 

The regulation expanded the previous deposit-return system to include all ready-to-drink beverages except milk, milk substitutes and meal replacements.  Under the regulation, all beverage containers must be refillable and no containers recovered by the system can be landfilled or incinerated2.

Encorp, the not-for-profit body responsible for administering the recycling program in BC charges a “recycling fee” affixed to some products ( plastic, glass, some drinking boxes, and poly cups) in order to operate. The fee was previously included in the purchase price, but now is shown separately to demonstrate to consumers the price of recycling.

© 2007 Container Recycling Institute | About Us