October 22, 2008
Alberta launches deposit system for milk containers
EDMONTON - Recycling at bottle depots has suddenly become a lot more lucrative, as the provincial government announced the first substantial increases to deposits in more than 20 years.
Alberta Environment has also decided to add all milk containers to the list of items with refundable deposits.
The deposits on all beverage containers, including milk containers, will increase to 10 cents for containers one litre and under, and 25 cents for containers greater than one litre. The move is part of the government's efforts to shift Alberta out of the undesirable first spot in the category of province with the highest amount of waste per capita.
The deposit increases on all containers currently accepted at Alberta bottle depots, including pop, juice, beer, wine and spirit containers come into effect Nov. 1.
The deposit and option to return milk containers to Alberta bottle depots comes into effect June 1, 2009.
Alberta will become the first jurisdiction in North America to include all milk containers in the deposit system, said Christina Seidel, executive director of the Recycling Council of Alberta. The announcement was made at Summerside Bottle Depot in south Edmonton, which was also holding its grand opening celebration.
The Alberta Dairy Council milk container recycling program began in 1999. But Seidel said recovery rates were at 23 per cent for paper cartons and 60 per cent for plastic jugs and that just wasn't good enough.
The council's president, Brian Miller, said their recovery rates for four-litre plastic jugs isn't that far off from the rate for similar containers already under the deposit refund system.
Miller said the council is disappointed with the government's decision.
"We're going into that world now so as much as we're disappointed and we don't support the decision of course we're going to do our best to ensure we're as successful as we can be because we do care about recycling our containers and we want to see high recovery rates and all of those good things."
Miller said Alberta's dairy farmers and processors put out a nutritious and wholesome product.
"We don't want it to become so expensive that it becomes inaccessible to the masses. It's hard to say if 25 cents is going to do it, I don't know, but we hope not."
Alberta Environment Minister Rob Renner said it's not a secret that the dairy industry has not been supportive of coming into the system.
"I believe very strongly that the evidence speaks for itself," Renner said. "The containers that have deposits have a high success rate, albeit it needs to be higher. The containers that don't have a deposit, the voluntary program is not working as well."
Renner said the public demanded the government move forward with this. He said it also helped that an all-party committee dealt with the issue and made recommendations, rather than it being driven exclusively by the government caucus.
The province says 75 per cent of beverage containers are currently returned for recycling. That doesn't include the milk containers, because up until now they haven't been part of the deposit system. However, their goal of an 85 per cent recycling rate does include milk containers, Renner said.
Over at the Strathcona Bottle Depot today, the response was positive.
"It's good for the homeless," said Robin O'Rourke, who was returning bags of empties from work.
O'Rourke said she generally leaves her own empties in a visible spot for others to pick up and return.
She believes strongly that deposits encourage recycling and would like to see the government do the same for other recyclables. When she worked at a Starbucks in British Columbia, someone would drop by to pick up every scrap of their recyclables, including paper, which would then be resold, she said.
Mike Dawson was also encouraged to hear the news. Dawson's green bicycle carrier had six bags of bottles and cans attached to it when he rolled up to the depot.
It had taken him six hours to collect $92.45 worth. When deposits go up, Dawson figures he'll be able to put aside more money for his son. He also hopes to be able to pay for some permanent shelter. Dawson currently lives in someone's heated garage.
The hike in deposits will mean a change in some habits. Dawson doesn't stop for "five-centers" now. "I'd stop for 10-centers," he said.
Bikram Jit, the depot owner, said he expects more bottles and he's ready for it.
"If we move more volume, we might need more workers," he added.
For more information on Alberta's Beverage Container Recycling Program, visit bcmb.ab.ca. For more information on Alberta's Too Good to Waste strategy, visit environment.alberta.ca
hbrooymans@thejournal.canwest.com
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/story.html?id=b5af3d1f-9e69-4b1b-8113-1c6b38fb20f9
