April 16, 2008
Can bill finally tabled
TERESA WRIGHT
In a highly unusual house procedure, the province tabled legislation Tuesday that will officially lift the can ban on May 3.
Of course, tabling the bill was not unusual — but the fact it was tabled with only minutes to spare in the day's proceedings after Environment Minster George Webster failed to submit the bill at the proper time was definitely out of the norm.
The house had to revert back to ‘tabling of bills’ to get it through first reading — a procedure described by house Speaker Kathleen Casey as “highly unusual.’’
But they did get it in, so now Islanders can be certain they’ll be able to sip their favourite brand of pop or beer from a chilled tin can in only a few weeks.
“This is an historic change for our government,’’ Environment Minister George Webster told reporters.
“We’re trying to meet our deadline of May 3. It’s tight going, but we’re hopeful we’ll make it.’’
Under the new system, Islanders will pay a 10-cent deposit on each beverage container they purchase and receive a five-cent refund for each container returned.
For alcoholic beverage containers larger than 500 millilitres, there will be a 20-cent deposit imposed with a 10-cent refund.
The containers can be returned for refund only to licensed container recycling depots. There are currently 10 across the province.
As part of the legislation, the Environment Department is also implementing the expected deposit and return program for all other beverage containers in the province expect those that contain dairy drinks.
Webster said the deposit system is so far-reaching as to include even kids’ Tetra packs of juice in order to make the program uniform.
“With the diversity that’s out there, we thought we couldn’t cherrypick the types of containers.’’
So the deposit system will apply to all ready-to-drink drink containers.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t still put beverage containers in Waste Watch blue bags.
“Islanders will have a choice to return the beverage containers to a return depot or they can continue depositing them as they have in the past in the current blue bag system,’’ Gerry Moore, chief executive officer of Island Waste Management Corporation (IWMC) told The Guardian Monday.
The Superior Sanitation employees — who collect refuse under the Waste Watch system — will not be allowed to return the containers for a five-cent refund.
But they do want a handling fee.
Webster said the province is still negotiating what that fee will be.
The province estimates about 20 to 30 per cent of people will not bother to return their containers for refund.
“They’ll just put it out to the curb,’’ Webster said. “Of course this is a significant revenue stream.’’
Superior Sanitation already receives payment for collecting blue bags filled with recyclables once a month.
However, since it will now collect and store the containers, the company falls into an ‘industrial depot’ category and therefore wants a handling fee, Webster said.
But five cents a container is too much, he added.
“They’re already being paid for the black cart, green cart and blue bag services, so one could argue they don’t deserve to be paid full wage as you would or I would if we took our empty containers into a depot,” he said. “I think that’s reasonable and fair. We’re still working that out with them.’’
In order to get a full refund for your beverage containers:
— Must be empty;
— Can’t be crushed or broken;
— Must be capable of being cleaned;
— Must still have some mark to identify who distributed it or a bar code;
— And you must take them to a licensed container recycling depot — to be announced by the province at a later date.
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=126474&sc=98
