B.C. binners rejoice as beverage container deposits and refunds are set to rise
Credit to Author: Glenda Luymes| Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2019 00:19:51 +0000
B.C.’s binners are calling a five-cent increase to the deposit on beverage containers a “game-changer.”
On Wednesday, Return-It announced that the deposit on non-alcoholic beverage containers up to one litre in size will double from five cents to 10 cents on Nov. 1, giving consumers another reason to recycle their empties. The goal, according to the industry-owned not-for-profit responsible for beverage container recycling in B.C., is to increase the amount British Columbians recycle and reduce the plastics that end up in landfills and waterways.
The announcement comes at a good time for binners who are heading into their slow season, as fewer people picnic in parks or drink outside during the winter.
“It’s great news. It’s really a game-changer,” said Davin Boutang, a former binner who now works with the Binners’ Project, a Vancouver group dedicated to increasing economic opportunities for binners.
Davin Boutang, community specialist with the Binners’ Project.
The changes will double the amount binners receive for aluminum cans, plastic and glass bottles and drink boxes and cartons, in addition to simplifying the process of trying to separate and calculate the returns on liquor and non-liquor bottles, as the refunds will be the same. The only exception is for containers over one litre, which will still net a 20-cent refund.
Speaking from his own experience, Boutang said a binner’s bag typically fits about 200 cans and could bring in between $10 to $12, depending on what is inside. The five-cent raise could increase the average return for one bag to about $20.
Boutang said binners often follow the same route, called a “trapline,” where they hope to net about two or three bags per day.
“So you’re going from $30 in a day to maybe $60,” he said. “It’s still not a lot.”
The Binners’ Project was surprised by the announcement, although it was an issue they’d included in a submission to the Ministry of Environment earlier this year as the government conducted a survey on reducing plastic, said director Landon Hoyt.
In its consultation with its members, the group heard from many binners who expressed “a readiness and eagerness to be part of the system,” said Hoyt. There was also hope that more items could be included in the program, such as coffee cups, takeout boxes and milk containers.
Hoyt pointed out that binners are experts in street-based recycling. He wasn’t concerned that the increased refund might encourage more people to recycle and reduce the amount of cans for binners to collect.
“The biggest reason people don’t recycle is that it’s time-consuming,” he said.
Recovery rates are “complex,” agreed Return-It president and CEO Allen Langdon. In addition to raising the deposit, the organization is also trying to make recycling more convenient with programs like its express system, which allows people to print a tag and drop off bags of recyclables at the depot for sorting.
Sorters Simon Carrascal (left) and Hugo Berger sift through cans and bottles at Regional Recycling Vancouver on Glen Drive in Vancouver.
In 2018, 77.4 per cent of beverage containers in B.C. were returned and recycled, or over one billion containers. That means about 23 per cent of containers were not returned, and the deposits collected when consumers purchased a pack of pop, for example, remained with Return-It, instead of being refunded when the cans were returned. The unclaimed deposits are used to help pay Return-It’s operating costs.
The deposits are originally paid by the manufacturer to Return-It when the cans are shipped. The cost is passed along to the grocery store, which passes it on to the purchaser. Return-It holds the funds until the cans are returned.
Hoyt said any reduction in the amount of unclaimed deposits would likely “balance out” with the five-cent increase. When the revenue from unclaimed deposits and the sale of collected materials is not enough to cover the cost of recovering and recycling a specific container type, a non-refundable recycling fee called a Container Recycling Fee is added to the container to make up for the shortfall.
Environmental groups responded positively to the changes, but some pressed the government and Return-It to do more.
Ocean Legacy Foundation president Chloe Dubois called the increase a “great start,” but said it should only be the beginning of a “major redefining of how our plastic management systems are designed, implemented and enforced.”
In an email from Panama, where she is collecting plastic pollution off the remote Las Perlas islands, Dubois said more funds are needed for “meaningful enforcement,” as well consistent annual funding for plastic cleanup.
In April, the foundation released a report that found more than a million beverage containers, and an estimated 2.3-million bottle caps, are not recycled every day in B.C.
The report, British Columbia’s Beverage Container Legacy: The Missing Millions, noted B.C. was the first jurisdiction in the world to adopt a regulated beverage-container refund system, but said the system is 50 years old and needs to be updated.