By Staff
October 28th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Ontarians have been returning containers to The Beer Store for nearly 100 years — ensuring cans and bottles are sorted and effectively recycled or refilled. But retailers are seeking to weaken the deposit-return program for alcohol containers even as Ontario continues to lag behind most other Canadian provinces since it does not have a similar program for non-alcoholic beverages.
The Beer Store is taking in beer bottles and cans as well as wine and spirit bottles. Retails who now have the right to sell these products don’t want to do the cleanup part.
Every year, we estimate that more than 1.7 billion plastic bottles are littered, landfilled or burned in an incinerator because there is no deposit-return system for non-alcoholic beverages. The provincial government abruptly cancelled work on such a program this past summer after retailers complained that they would be expected to participate in taking back empties from the beverages they sell.
Now retailers are railing against the requirement to start taking back alcohol empties if they sell alcohol as part of this fall’s expansion of sales to convenience and grocery stores.
Give the guy on the bike credit for doing what he can to support himself – but this isn’t the way to manage the return of beverage containers to be recycled.
All effective deposit-return systems ensure consumers can easily return their empties. This keeps containers in the system and out of the environment while enabling people to get their deposits back. That’s why the province must ignore retailer whining and hold firm that stores that sell alcohol must take back empties. It’s only fair.
What’s more, the province must get back to the table with the non-alcoholic beverage industry, retailers and environmental advocates to design an effective and long-awaited expansion of the deposit-return program to non-alcoholic beverages.
Retailers all over the world take back empties — including in Quebec, Michigan, Germany and all over Latin America. There is no excuse for major retailers not to participate in reducing litter and waste in Ontario, refunding customer deposits, and ensuring containers can be recycled or refilled.
What is “convenient” about waiting in-line behind some dude returning various bags of empties at the small convenience store.
Including random brands the store never sold. Like Laurentide and Schooner.
Wait as the clerk (only one on staff) separates cans and green from clear glass.
Removes those (deadly) plastic straws from the wine bottle.
Fishes out cigarette butts from a Coors can, & lime wedges out of Coronas.
Not to mention the long list of germs and bacteria on the used empties that we had to avoid like the plague during COVID.
Then counts out the various nickels and dimes to give for deposit refund.
Beer Stores are already set up for this – with their plastic totes – and rollers.
Broken glass, fruit flies, wet sticky floors and rancid aromas.
Back in the old days there was just ONE bottle style.
The good old brown stubbie with peel-off foil label, and all was good in the land.
There was a time all milk bottles were returned and all variety stores had to take back all the pop bottles (with straws and cigarette butts) and it was always One person working the store. Kids would do pop bottle hunts and return many bottles not necessarily purchased from that store so it has been done in the past and can be done now just as easily.
Selling beer and wine is a decision available to variety stores. If they want to partake, they need to also accept the empties. Easy peasy, don’t want to go through the hassle of returns, don’t sell alcohol.
Alberta does as well.