March 6, 2008

P.E.I. Environment Department fines company for violating province's pop can ban

KENSINGTON, P.E.I. — Prince Edward Island's can ban may be about to end, but the sleuths in the province's Environment Department are still cracking down on businesses smuggling in canned pop.

The provincial Environment Department recently seized almost 10,000 cans of pop and issued a $1,000 fine to a business in Kensington following an undercover investigation by an enforcement officer.

An official with the P.E.I. Environment Department confirmed 815 cases of pop were seized from E&S Waugh Farms Ltd. after the department received a tip about the illegal cans.

"One of our conservation officers went in, dressed in street clothes, and asked about buying some pop," said department spokesman Ron Ryder.

"Once he (the owner) had produced the pop, the officer laid the charge. The owner was co-operative. We found five pallets of pop on the premises. Now they're locked in a locker in our building."

For the past two decades, it has been illegal to sell flavoured, carbonated beverages in non-refillable containers on the Island.

The Island's regulations requiring beer to be sold in refillable containers came into effect in 1973. The law was expanded to include soft drinks in 1984.

Ryder said the provincial Liberal government hopes to have the new regulations lifting the can ban in effect by May 1, although the bill has yet to be approved by the legislature.

"Until the law changes, we are still enforcing the ban," he said.

Ryder said the can ban was designed to protect Prince Edward Island from littering and keep it clean for tourists.

At the time, it also protected jobs at the Seamans and Coca-Cola bottling plants.

Coke has since moved its operation to Quebec and Seamans has been sold to Pepsi, which still runs a small bottling plant on the Island.

Meanwhile, the P.E.I. government is looking for a company to operate a beverage recycling system.

Don Jardine, director of pollution prevention with the Environment Department, has said the Island is under pressure from neighbouring Maritime provinces to bring in a system similar to their's.

About 17 million soft drinks are sold in P.E.I. each year, but that figure doesn't include bottled water and juices.

The number is expected to grow once the province opens the door to canned pop and beer, plastic bottles of pop and other containers now restricted for sale.

There will be a 10-cent deposit charged on beverages. Five cents will be returned to the consumer once the container is redeemed. The remaining five cents will be used to operate the new system.

In New Brunswick, about 72 per cent of containers are recycled. That figure is higher in Nova Scotia at 78 per cent.