The Liquor Control Board of Ontario launches “Bag it back“, its new redemption program for recycling wine, beer and spirit containers, on 5 February 2007, following a three-week advertising campaign…
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario launches “Bag it back“, its new redemption program for recycling wine, beer and spirit containers, on 5 February 2007, following a three-week advertising campaign informing the public about the initiative. From 5 February 2007, Ontario consumers will pay a deposit of between CAD 0.10 to CAD 0.20 when they purchase alcohol. They are then encouraged to “Bag it back“, and return empty alcohol containers to The Beer Store (TBS) for a refund of their deposit. By bagging empties back, consumers will be helping to recycle the 80 million containers per year that are currently not recycled. NexCycle Industries, an American glass recycler, has the contract to process all of the 240 million liquor bottles the government hopes Ontarians will recycle annually. At the firm“s plant in Guelph, south-west Ontario manager Scott Van Rooy said the facility expects to process between 40,000 to 60,000 tonnes of liquor bottles in the first year of the LCBO“s program. That means the plant is growing its workforce by 12 people and adding a third shift, he said. Fibreglass insulation makers are NexCycle“s biggest customer, Mr. Van Rooy said. Recycled glass makes up about 60% to 70% of the material used in insulation, he said. NexCycle also sells glass for use in floor tiles, as an additive for reflective highway paint, household products and a range of other uses. “We“re going to handle whatever comes in. We“ve got customers for it”, he said. “Any material we receive, especially from this program, definitely has a home on a high-end use. That was stipulated in the contract … We“re not just putting it in a landfill or roadfill”. Unlike beer bottles, none of the LCBO bottles will be refilled, for two reasons: domestic winemakers are reluctant to sell their product in bottles that look used, and organizing foreign winemakers is a problem. Some of the glass, however, will be re-melted for new wine bottles. NexCycle already takes beer bottles recycled through the Beer Store, which has a bottle return rate of 97%. Amber bottles are usually re-used as beer bottles, while more valuable clear glass might be sold off to other industries. Clean, top-end recycled glass can be sold for CAD 20 a tonne, Mr. Van Rooy said, which is about the price of a decent bottle of wine. He said consumers in British Columbia took about four years to raise their return rate on a new liquor bottle redemption system to 85%. “People will say “I“ve only got one bottle, so I“ll throw it in the blue box,“ ” he said. “It“s takes a while to change people“s habits”.