February 1, 2008
Ontario government bottle-return plan a partial success: McGuinty
KITCHENER, Ont. - Ontario drinkers need to do a better job of getting their empties back for a refund, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Friday, after figures show less than half of people are returning their small wine and spirit bottles.
A year after the province started the Bag-it-Back program, 72 per cent of wine drinkers are taking their big bottles to the Beer Store, but only 48 per cent are taking small bottles, tetra packs and plastic containers.
About 70 per cent of Ontario's bars and restaurants are returning their bottles, accounting for 22 million returned containers.
"We set an initial target for our first year of a 65 per cent rate of return and we are on track to meet that," McGuinty said at a beer store on the one-year anniversary of the Bag-it-Back program.
"But we can and must do better."
The Beer Store has an enviable 96 per cent rate of return for empty beer bottles, McGuinty said.
"That's something pretty wonderful, something to inspire us," said McGuinty, urging people to take all their containers back for a refund.
"It's not just the big bottles. Bring in those plastic bottles, those tetra packs - whatever they're using as a container."
Taking bottles to the Beer Store does more than put an extra 20 cents in your pocket, McGuinty added. The returned bottles are sorted and taken to a recycling facility where they are melted down rather than smashed, he said.
The 220 million bottles that have been returned so far has resulted in over 24,000 tonnes being recycled into new bottles and almost 50,000 tonnes being recycled into fibreglass insulation, McGuinty added.
"There is less stuff going into the landfill and we can make better use of the materials as well," he said. "We can put them to a better and higher-end use."
Although many people may be more preoccupied with this weekend's Super Bowl, McGuinty said such sporting events can produce a mountain of reusable empties.
"There may be a bit of celebrating going on with your favourite beverage," he said. "Use that as an opportunity to bring all those returns back to your local, friendly beer store."
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario - whose members split the cost of the blue box program with companies such as the LCBO - supports the deposit-return system.
Doug Reycraft, the association's president, said in a release that the program mean room can be made in blue boxes for other products.
Before the Bag-it-Back program, the association estimated Ontario property taxpayers paid about $23 million a year to collect, process and market glass containers sold by the LCBO that ended up in blue boxes.
