Refund available for milk and liquid cream containers
May 28, 2009
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Refund available for milk and liquid cream containers
New deposit fee in place beginning June 1
Edmonton, Alta. will soon be the first jurisdiction in Canada to include milk containers in a regulated deposit-refund system. On June 1, as with other beverage containers in the system, milk and liquid cream containers will be returnable to a bottle depot for refund.
The fully-refundable deposit fee for milk containers matches the deposit on similar-sized containers already part of the deposit program. For containers one litre and under, the deposit will be 10 cents. The deposit for containers over one litre will be 25 cents.
“We’re always looking for ways to protect our environment by reducing waste,” said Diana McQueen, Environment Parliamentary Assistant. “We’ve made this change to increase recycling rates for beverage containers in Alberta and to help to foster a culture of conservation in the province.”
More than two billion beverage containers are sold in Alberta each year, and about 500 million of those are not recycled. The current recycling rate for plastic milk jugs is 60 per cent, and for milk cartons it is 22.5 per cent. The province’s goal, as part of its Too Good to Waste strategy, is an overall beverage container recycling rate-including milk and liquid cream-of 85 per cent.
“This is an exciting move for Alberta,” said Ross Risvold, Chair of the Beverage Container Management Board. “Bringing milk and liquid cream containers into the deposit-refund system will help boost overall beverage container recycling rates and decrease the amount of containers going into landfills.”
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 through local municipal recycling programs.
For more information on Alberta’s Beverage Container Recycling Program, visit www.bcmb.ab.ca. For more information on Alberta’s Too Good to Waste strategy, visit www.environment.alberta.ca.
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