The recycling fees in B.C. for ceramic containers are increasing on Sept. 1 from under 25 cents to almost $30.
The container recycling fee (CRF) for ceramic beer, wine and spirit containers will change from 7 cents, 11 cents and 16 cents, depending on the size, to $29.51.
Encorp Pacific (Canada), better known as Return-It, is the not-for-profit stewardship agency that is responsible for all of the collection and recycling of used beverage containers in B.C.
It said it needs to increase the CRF for ceramic containers to offset the costs associated with collecting these bottles and keep them separate from other recycling to avoid contamination.
“Recently, what we found is there’s a growing number of beverages that are sold in ceramic containers,” Cindy Coutts, president and CEO of Encorp Pacific told Global News.
“And, historically, ceramic ends up being co-mingled with glass. So this is glass that we collect from, you know, wine consumption, any glass container. In very small amounts, it’s not problematic. But as the number of ceramic containers, grows in B.C., it was posing a contamination problem for the glass.”
Coutts said that as more glass recycling became contaminated by ceramic bottles, that glass cannot be made into new glass bottles so they had to start collecting ceramic separately.
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She said that the jump in the cost of recycling ceramic bottles is calculated based on it being a relatively small volume of a heavy material that must be collected, transported and recycled separately.
“Then you allocate all of those costs to that material,” Coutts added.
“And that’s the amount that the container recycling fee that is passed on to the consumer is for ceramics starting September of 2024.”
Coutts said the customer will still be refunded the bottle deposit if they bring back the ceramic container to be recycled but the $29.51 CRF is non-refundable.
Darryl Lamb, the general manager at Legacy Liquor Store in Vancouver said he is worried about passing these costs onto customers.
“Take for example, the Togouchi nine-year-old Japanese blended whisky made up of single malt and grain whisky from Japan,” he said.
The product comes in a green ceramic bottle.
“Ceramic takes less chemical to produce, more environmentally friendly, and it’s actually better for the whisky,” Lamb said.
“They’ve chosen this bottle on purpose, and unfortunately, now it’s going to be subjected to a $29 tax.”
Bozal from Mexico, also sold in ceramic bottles, is a company that works with indigenous farmers to grow small-batch agave to make single one-off batches of mezcal, Lamb explained.
“Some of the rarest and most delicious mezcal in the world, supporting indigenous families. Unfortunately, now this will also be subject to a $29 tax.”
Coutts said that the Return-It program has always operated under the premise that the CRF fee is charged to the customer and that covers the cost of collection and recycling.
“It’s just the actual cost,” she said.
“It reflects the actual cost of collecting and recycling the material. So the interesting element to that is, is it provides an incentive in the marketplace to perhaps change container types. And if a manufacturer wants to continue using ceramics, that is absolutely their prerogative. But there will be a cost associated with end-of-life management.”
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