The Brewery Workers proposal is significantly different from the Coalition’s in that
its draft legislation provides for a deposit/refund system on refillable beverage
containers and a timetable for the complete phasing out of recyciable containers in
favour of refillable containers over a ten year period. Their proposed legislation also
levies an environmental fee on the use of any non-refillable beverage containers.
it should be noted that this proposal covers beverage containers for soft drinks,
beer, wine and liquor but does not include juice or milk containers. ¢
en
Historically, non-deposit systems have not been as successful as deposit systems in 1 Ane
achieving high recovery rates. Jurisdictions using deposits and biue box programs i - aa
to recover used beverage containers are recovering an average of 80% of | we
containers targeted compared to 25%-30% recovery in Ontario with biue boxes | ns
alone. These ranges do not include refillable bottles which are returned in rates of
95%-100% in ail jurisdictions where they are sold including BC, which has had
refillable beer bottles for over 20 years.

Most environmentalists favour refillables as this emphasizes the first 2 R's - Reduce
and Reuse. Refillable bottles have the Jowest environmental irmpact - much better
than single-use containers. Even with washing, refillable glass bottles create less
water-borne waste than any of the single-use containers. Technology is advancing
rapidly and the existence of a healthy refilling infrastructure preserves the
opportunity to experiment with refillable PET plastic (pop bottles) which is serving
25 refills in European markets and polycarbonate plastic which is good for up to
100 refills.

Even though recycling does create employment opportunities in BC it is worth
noting the following facts about the material we collect:

Glass Even though they are technically recyclable at
, Consumers Glass in Lavington, BC, there is no real
‘market for the coloured glass and stringent quality
requirements make it too costly to ship clear glass
there. Some of our glass is being shipped to Seattle
but most municipalities are storing their collected class

and looking at alternative uses.

2. Alurnainum Cans There is a good market for the aluminum beverage
containers but they are all shipped to Kentucky.

Plastic PET Bottles These are transported for recycling to North Carolina.

Recycling industries tend to be integrated into the global economy in which BC is
likely to remain a fairly small player and therefore vulnerable to market f iuctuations.

While deposit systems recover. a high -hercentage— of norrefillable/single- use
containers, there still remains the challenge[of- ‘recycling “the recovered waste
containers. Refillable containers greatly reduce the volume of waste containers by
refilling the same container anywhere from 20- 100 times.

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