A Vancouver non-profit is calling on the province to extend its container deposit program to cover single-use cups.
The Binners’ Project supports the city’s bottle and can collecting community. It organizes an annual event called Coffee Cup Revolution, refunding binners a “deposit” on collected cups.
The group is renewing its appeal to the city as a replacement for the 25-cent cup fee, which has been criticized as punitive to low-income people.
It’s a problem Binners’ Project director Sean Miles said could be eliminated, while retaining the cup fee’s intended environmental benefits, with the same type of deposit applied to bottles and cans.
“It allows people the opportunity to recoup the cost associated with that deposit and also has, I think, a potentially better ability to ensure the diversion of those cups from the waste stream,” he told Global News.
According to the city, people in Vancouver threw out more than 82 million single-use cups and 89 million plastic bags in 2018 alone.
The city estimates the cost to collect and dispose of those items is about $2.5 million per year, with many items ending up in the landfill.
Miles said the potential for a deposit program to keep cups out of landfills is hard to overstate. It could apply province-wide, not just to Vancouver, he added.
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Binners in Vancouver alone collected nearly 100,000 cups in a three-hour period during their Coffee Cup Revolution event last fall.
“It allows them that additional source of income, like we’ve seen with the recent rollout of milk containers being added to the refundable system. It’s an added income source.”
The province added a 10-cent deposit to milk and milk substitute containers in February.
Deposits and refunds in British Columbia are a provincial responsibility, mandated under the B.C. Recycling Regulation and administered by Encorp, an industry-led non-profit. They cover “ready-to-drink” beverages, including pop, sports drinks, beer, wine and liquor.
In a statement, a Ministry of Environment spokesperson told Global News that staff are considering next steps on single-use plastics and plan to ask for the public’s feedback on municipal programs, such as Vancouver’s, later on this spring.
Earlier this month, the City of Vancouver amended the disposable cup fee to address some criticisms.
Drinks offered for free will no longer be charged the 25-cent fee. Food vendors will be legally required to accept reusable cups by July 1.
City staff have also been ordered to report next year with a strategy to mandate a reusable cup option for dine-in customers and a roadmap for a possible city-wide reusable cup share program.