P.E.I. plans to hike deposits and refunds on bottles and cans this summer

If all goes according to plan, Islanders will soon be paid three times as much when they return bottles and cans to a recycling depot — but deposits paid at the cash for full beverage containers will also jump.

After last year's litter survey showed a disappointing 35 per cent increase, Environment Minister Steven Myers said his department was looking at doubling the deposit on beverage containers in order to triple the payout on returned bottles and cans to encourage more returns.

In the legislature on Thursday, Myers said those plans are underway and he hopes the new rates will come into effect this summer — by August at the latest.

"We're quite cognizant of the fact that there are rising cost issues here, right across the country, and we don't want to contribute more to that," Myers said.

"We're kind of walking a very ginger path here, as we try to figure out what the best path is to make it so that people will return their bottles."

There are 10 licensed beverage container recycling depots spread across the Island, accepting pretty much every kind of beverage container except for dairy cartons.  

Deposits paid at the cash on each bottle or can are now set to double from 10 cents to 20 cents, while payouts on returned items would go from 5 cents to 15 cents.

New Brunswick is also doubling its payouts starting April 1, but Myers said P.E.I.'s plans were underway before he learned about that.

"We're doing a study right now on the New Brunswick model. We're looking at the model they did where they basically made the producer responsible for the collection of it. We're trying to figure out, how is that model going to work in New Brunswick?" he said.

"We don't want to put anybody out of business when we do it."