Speakers Corner: Why are there recycling fees for take-out?
Posted April 8, 2022 1:43 pm.
There’s no secret about it, restaurants have had a rough couple of years, rocked by closures during the various lockdowns. Now that things are opening back up many businesses face another challenge: rising costs for products. Some establishments are finding unique ways to deal with the increases.
In this week’s Speakers Corner report, Archi Balakumara reached out to us after a visit to a gourmet donut shop.
“I ordered two doughnuts and a coffee, and when I looked at my receipt, I saw that I had been charged a .99 recycling fee,” she said. “I am curious to know what it was and what it was for.”
According to Daniel Loszmann, the owner of Donut Hive, you can thank rising prices for to-go containers.
“The raw material is going up and up in price.”
Loszmann added the .99 cent recycling fee recently after the cost for boxes he ordered increased.
“Before the pandemic, the cost was much lower,” he said.
But as the demand for take-out containers increased during lockdowns, so did the prices.
“Before the pandemic, one box was .35 cents. Now a box is close to .95 cents,” Loszmann said. “The paper bags I put the donuts in, also increased and I am spending a total of $1.50 per order, but I still charge only .99 cents.”
Loszmann tells customers they can avoid the added charge by bringing in their own container.
“You can use your own box. No charge for you or for me,” he explained.
“It’s just a unique way to try to manage to stay afloat during these very, very difficult times,” said Luc Erjavec, Vice President of Restaurants Canada which represents 35,000 restaurants across the country. He says not only have costs for to-go containers gone up in Ontario, so has something else.
“Several years ago, the government introduced what’s called extended producer responsibility, which is essentially a fee on all packaging that we’re required to pay for its disposal. And these fees have increased as well.”
It’s leading many restaurants to either add surcharges — like the recycling fee — or increase prices on products.
“The surcharge is kind of a unique way some places are going about it. Most of the time, they tend to be buried into the cost of products,” Erjavec said.
There is nothing illegal with charging extra for recycling.
“The Consumer Protection Act, 2002 (CPA) does not prohibit a business from charging a recycling fee. Generally, it is up to each business to decide what fee(s) to charge customers for their goods/services,” said a spokesperson for Consumer Protection Ontario.
“Under the CPA, a business is prohibited from engaging in unfair practices. For example, it will be an unfair practice if a business makes a false, misleading or deceptive representation. In the case of a fee, the business cannot misrepresent the purpose of the fee or present it as a government tax.”
Loszmann says he’s upfront about the fee. There are posted signs right at the cash register.
“We are giving people a choice, bring your own box or pay the fee,” Loszmann said.
He insists it’s not a money making scheme. He says, it’s about staying open, having already closed one location during the pandemic.
“I think it’s better that I give people a choice, instead of jacking up the cost of each donut.”
Loszmann says he’ll consider getting rid of the fee if and when prices for take-out containers decrease.
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