Province Marks Billions of Alcohol Containers Recycled Over a Decade

Do you return your empties, Mississauga?

Ontario has a lot of measures in place to encourage recycling and environmental friendliness, and now, the province is marking three billion cans and bottles kept out of landfills through the Ontario Deposit Return Program.

It may be surprising to learn that each year, 80 million alcohol bottles, cans and containers end up in Ontario landfills.

While the Blue Box at your house is effective in getting you to recycle, the Ontario Deposit Return Program encourages people and businesses to recycle empty glass or aluminum containers for a dollar value.

The program boosts the number of containers recovered each year.

Through the program, alcohol containers such as plastic and glass bottles, aluminum and steel cans, bag-in-box and Tetra Pak containers can be returned to the Beer Store locations across Ontario for a full deposit refund.

“We’re thrilled to announce that we have reached this milestone on environmental responsibility and that we’ve diverted enormous amounts of material that could otherwise end up in the province’s landfills,” said President of the Beer Store Ted Moroz.

Ontario aims to have a circular economy, a system where valuable materials destined for landfill are reused or recycled, protecting the environment while creating new jobs and investment opportunities, so marking 3 billion containers recycled is a big deal.

Returned containers are recycled into useful new products such as new bottles and cans, carpeting, insulation, and plastic lumber, generating hundreds of jobs in Ontario each year. For every additional 1,000 tonnes of recycled waste, seven new jobs are generated.

“It’s a win for your wallet, the environment and the economy,” said Minister of Finance Charles Sousa.

Recycling containers back into productive use also supports the province’s efforts to tackle climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from landfilled materials.

Currently, approximately 80 per cent of all empties are returned to the Beer Store each year.

Keep recycling those empties, Mississauga!