92 per cent of all beverage alcohol containers sold in Ontario recycled
Mississauga, Ont, Canada, November 2010: The Beer Store (TBS) has released "Responsible Stewardship", its annual packaging stewardship report detailing the packaging diversion performance of The Beer Store's deposit return system for beer containers and the Ontario Deposit Return Program (ODRP) for wine and spirit containers.
The release of this year's report marks the eighth consecutive year that TBS has publicly reported on the performance of its world-renowned deposit return based packaging management system for beer containers and the third year it has reported on the results of the Ontario Deposit Return Program (ODRP) for wine and spirit containers sold by LCBO, winery and distillery retail stores.
Combined these two deposit programs successfully collected for recycling and/or refilling more than 2.1 Billion beer, wine and spirit containers in the twelve month period ended April 30, 2010. "Those 2.1 Billion containers represented an impressive 92 per cent of all beverage alcohol containers sold in Ontario making the combined TBS/ODRP deposit system the single most effective waste diversion program in the province," noted Ted Moroz, The Beer Store president.
In the period covered by this year's report the 2.1 Billion containers collected combined with their related secondary packaging represented a total of 520,000 tonnes of diverted landfill waste, an amount equal to almost 60 per cent of what Ontario's entire Blue Box collects each year.
For the 12 month period ending April 30, 2010, the following environmental landmarks were achieved:
- Ontario beer consumers returned over 1.85 billion beer containers for an impressive 95 per cent return rate -- a one percentage point increase over last year's rate of 94 per cent;
- The aluminum can return rate was 82 per cent representing a 3 percentage point increase from last year and a 15 percentage point increase since 2004/05;
- The return rate for non-refillable glass beer bottles was 91 percent representing a two percentage point increase from last year and a six percentage point increase since 2004/05;
- The return rate on ODRP containers was 77 per cent representing a four percentage point increase over 2009 and a ten percentage point increase from when the program was launched in 2007;
- The return rate on large glass wine and spirit bottles (over 630ml) under the ODRP, which represent approximately half of all ODRP containers sold, was an impressive 87 per cent, up from 83 percent last year.
The environmental benefits of these results extend well beyond less waste going to landfill. The recycling and/or refilling of beer, wine and spirit containers under the TBS and ODRP programs achieve the following additional environmental results:
- 174,292 tonnes of avoided Greenhouse Gases. Equivalent to taking 33,325 cars off the road; and,
- Energy savings of 2.9 million Gigajoules. Equivalent to 477,453 barrels of oil with a cost of $36 million.
"These are great results", said Ontario Environment Minister John Wilkinson. "The more we divert from landfills, the healthier an environment we leave for our children and grandchildren," added Minister Wilkinson.
"The Beer Store is extremely proud of these results and the continued improvement they show", noted Moroz. "We're also extremely grateful to all Ontarians who care enough about their environment to take the time to return their empty beer, wine and spirit bottles to The Beer Store. Without their participation these results would never have happened", added Moroz.
Click here to download a copy of Responsible Stewardship 2009-2010 .
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