ESTABLISH A DEPOSIT-RETURN SYSTEM FOR BEVERAGE CONTAINERS IN ONTARIO
Ontario customers will soon pay a new recycling fee on pop cans and other non-alcoholic bottles. This is because the beverage industry is taking over responsibility for collection and recycling under new provincial rules.
But this new "tax" imposed by large food and beverage companies, such as Coke, Pepsi and Blue Triton, won't result in an improved recycling system. Instead, they will rely on the pre-existing Blue Box Program that currently captures less than 50 per cent of plastic bottles sold in Ontario.
By comparison, alcoholic beverage containers are subject to a deposit-return system, which results in higher recycling rates and less waste in landfills and incinerators. In 2021, the Beer Store reported that nearly 80 per cent of beer packaging and containers were collected and recycled.
Almost every other province in Canada has a deposit-return system for most beverage containers, and those provinces have much higher collection and recycling rates.
Tell the Premier and big beverage industries that we want an effective deposit-return system for non-alcoholic beverage containers in Ontario.
SEND A LETTER TODAY.
Your letter will go to the Premier, the Retail Council of Canada, and to the CEOs of PepsiCo, Blue Triton, Keurig Dr. Pepper, the Coca-Cola Company and the CBCRA.