June 13, 2009
Milk carton recycling program stems waste
The tide is turning. A new provincial measure unveiled recently is intended to dam the amount of waste entering municipal landfills and reduce that “waste stream” to a trickle.
As of June 1, milk cartons will join the ranks of pop cans and tetra packs as a recyclable, refundable commodity.
Environmental Parliamentary assistant and Drayton Valley MP Diana McQueen announced Alberta is now the first province in the country to implement a program allowing milk containers to be part of a regulated deposit refund system.
On June 1, milk and liquid cream containers will be returnable at local bottle depots for a refund.
“When we did the review of beverage containers and deposit fees we also announced we would move from 5 cents to 10 cents,” said McQueen referring to containers one litre or less in size. Larger containers are worth 25 cents each.
‘At that time, we announced that dairy would be coming into the system. We worked with the Dairy Council (of Alberta).
“We were going to bring them in in February, but they said they needed more lead time.”
More than two billion such containers are sold in Alberta each year. McQueen said this adds to what she refers to as the “waste stream.”
Yet, this initiative should greatly impact that stream.
The current recycling rate for plastic milk jugs is 60 per cent and a dismal 22.5 per cent for cartons.
The province is being ambitious and is counting on the new program to increase the return rate to 85 per cent across the board.
McQueen is aware the province’s recycling program may not be as engaged as some other province, but she is proud of the fact communities like Edmonton have achieved global recognition for it’s efforts.
“My goal as parliamentary assistant, and my mandate from the minister and the premier, is that 80 per cent of waste is going into landfills and 20 per cent is either being recycled or reused.
“My mandate is to flip those numbers,” said McQueen.
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