Beer Store hits recycling landmark
Posted December 13, 2010 11:44 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – Over the past three years, one billion empty wine, beer and liquor bottles were brought into the Beer Store for recycling.
The one-billionth bottle won’t be driven to the dump. Instead, it was signed by the Environment Minister and locked in a showcase.
Since its inception in February 2007, the “Bag it Back” program — also known as the Ontario Deposit Return Program — has been incredibly successful with eight in 10 bottles being poured back into the Beer Store.
Ontario Environment Minister John Wilkinson said simplicity made the difference.
“I pay 20-cents extra for a bottle of wine or a bottle of alcohol, and if I bring back the empty, I get 20-cents back,” said Wilkinson.
“The containers come back here, we sort all of the containers by colour. They are shipped off to the recycling facility. There they’re crushed into pellets, and there they’re shipped off to glass manufacturers for the most part and made into other bottles,” Beer Store president, Ted Moroz, said.
The Beer Store has collected enough bottles now to fill the Rogers Centre five times.
