Milk Containers Now 'udderly recyclable' in Alberta

New regulations enacted October 22nd make Alberta the first province in Canada to put a deposit on milk containers. The province has also increased the deposit levels on containers already in its beverage container recycling program.

"Every beverage container in this province can be recycled into new and useful products," said Environment Minister Rob Renner. "Picture the plastic milk container in your fridge as a fleece jacket and the glass juice container as the insulation in your home."

Under the updated program, Albertans will pay a deposit on all milk containers and will be able to drop off the containers at any of Alberta's more than 200 bottle depots. The deposits on all beverage containers, including milk, will increase to 10 cents for containers one litre and under and 25 cents for containers greater than one litre. This is the first deposit increase in over 20 years, and will more closely align deposit levels (on non-milk containers) with those in Saskatchewan. With an average of two billion beverage containers sold in Alberta yearly, 500 million containers are not returned to a bottle depot for recycling. As part of the provincial Too Good to Waste strategy, Alberta's goal is to increase recycling rates to 85 per cent or higher, up from the current rate of 75 per cent.

The deposit and option to return milk containers to Alberta bottle depots comes into effect June 1, 2009. Milk containers will continue to be recycled through community recycling programs until then. The deposit increases on all containers currently accepted at Alberta bottle depots, including pop, juice, beer, wine and spirit containers come into effect November 1.

For more information on Alberta's Beverage Container Recycling Program, visit bcmb.ab.ca. For more information on Alberta's Too Good to Waste strategy visit environment.alberta.ca.

[Source: November 2008 WasteWatch]

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