June 13, 2009
Albertans not crazy about milk recycling
Some consumers are sour on a new government program that pays cash for used milk and dairy containers, admits an Alberta Environment spokesman.
“We’ve had some positive feedback but we’re definitely hearing from people not happy with it,” said Alberta Environment spokesman Trevor Gemmell. “But we feel it’s necessary to improve recycling.”
Beginning Monday, consumers will be able to return milk and dairy containers to bottle depots to receive refunds ranging from 10 cents to 25 cents. That includes some containers as small as 30 millilitres.
One caller to Sun Media complained because consumers now will have to pay the additional deposits when they buy milk products.
“Nobody talked about that,” said the man who described himself as a senior. “It’s an inconvenience for me to take these to bottle depots. Right now I just recycle them.”
Gemmell admits some folks gripe about the new deposit, but contends it’s a small price to pay for a cleaner environment.
“We’re committed to a culture of conservation and to reducing waste,” he said.
“One way to do that is to increase recycling. Having dairy containers in a deposit system will boost the numbers. We’re the first jurisdiction in North America to include dairy containers in a deposit system.”
Only one quarter of the two billion containers sold in Alberta are recycled, say ministry officials.
The current recycling rate for plastic milk jugs is 60 per cent and only 22.5 per cent for milk cartons.
The province’s goal, as part of its Too Good to Waste campaign, is an overall beverage container recycling rate – including milk and liquid cream – of 85 per cent, said Gemmell.
Only marked containers identified by “AB DEPOSIT” will be eligible for refund. Unmarked milk and liquid cream containers bought before June 1 are not eligible for a refund, and should be recycled, say officials.
http://www.fortsaskatchewanrecord.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1612484
