Quebec delays expanded deposit system for bottles, cans but still plans to reform recycling industry

A day after Quebec's environmental watchdog reprimanded the province for not meeting its waste reduction targets, Quebec announced it is postponing its expanded deposit-return system for drink containers, intended in part to manage its overflowing landfills.

The new policy, now scheduled for spring 2023, was scheduled for the end of 2022, but labour shortages caused by the pandemic prompted officials to offer retailers and several organizations involved an extra six months to prepare.

At a news conference Wednesday, Environment Minister Benoit Charette said the delay is "a very small price to pay to make sure we do things right."

In January 2020, the Quebec government announced all beverage containers — from 100 millilitres to two litres in size — will be returnable under a new deposit system.

All metal, plastic or glass containers will be eligible for the deposit, and multi-layered containers will be subject to the deposit two years after the system is implemented.

The government will require merchants who sell these products to take them back and refund the deposit. Wine and spirit bottles will be worth 25 cents, while other bottles will be worth 10 cents. 

Charette said the expanded system will require the development of a large returns network, which will need 1,500 points of service to serve at least 90 per cent of the population as soon as it is implemented in 2023. 

Develop homegrown facilities 

The Environment Ministry estimates the new deposit-return system will redirect 50,500 tonnes of material from landfill each year as of 2030 and will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of about 26,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

In 2019, Quebec set a goal of reducing the amount of landfill waste per person to 525 kilograms or less by 2023. The most recent data shows that in 2019, that number was 724 kg.

The Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement's (BAPE) report says nine of Quebec's 38 landfills will reach capacity by 2030 and 13 others will between 2030 and 2041 if the dumping of waste continues at the 2019 rate. 

According to Amélie Côté, a source reduction analyst for the environment group Équiterre, the value of the deposit system is not enough to encourage people to use it.

She says the money collected should primarily be used to finance reducing waste at source and making more containers reusable — which the BAPE considers to be the weakest links in the management of waste materials in Quebec.

Karel Ménard, executive director of the Quebec Coalition of Ecological Waste Management, says he welcomes the deposit-system plan, but says it's still a work in progress. 

"We've been working on this issue for more than 25 years now," said Ménard. "I'll be fully satisfied when I'll be able to put my wine bottle in a reverse vending machine and have my deposit back."

Still, Ménard says it's not enough to collect empties — Quebec has to recycle what it collects and not waste money shipping the contents abroad. He says the province needs more recycling facilities to do that.

"It's a good thing to collect the bottles... but it's not enough. We have to recycle them as close as we can, so develop facilities here."

More accountability for producers

The new regulations announced Wednesday also aim to make producers and companies that put certain products on the market responsible for their long-term management. 

A reform to Quebec's recycling system will require companies that produce certain containers to develop, implement and financially support a deposit system in order to recover and recycle them. 

As of 2027, a producer of cardboard packaging will have to reach a recuperation rate of 85 per cent, and the rate will be 80 per cent for producers of containers made of fibres and rigid plastics.  

Charette says he wants to put more pressure on producers of some other types of containers and packaging, to require them to use packaging that is easier to sort and less polluting.

"This will be one more way to reduce resource waste, promote the circular economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions," he said.