BC encouraged to put deposit fees on milk cartons
Posted October 3, 2011 1:02 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – There’s a call to charge deposit fees on milk containers, those are the only beverage cartons in BC that don’t already have a recycling fee on them.
The Campaign for Real Recycling wants to change that and Helen Spiegelman with the group says a website is being set up to collect signatures supporting the idea. “It’s time to get this done. It’s overdue. Alberta did it in 2009.”
She explains adding deposit fees has not affected milk sales in the province next door, but it has improved recycling rates. Within a matter of weeks, Spiegelman says milk carton recycling jumped from about 14 per cent to over 60 per cent.
The group also wants to increase deposit fees on other containers with existing recycling fees, and add fees on other kinds of containers, including shampoo.
“What we’re doing is reinforcing demands that have been made by our cities here in British Columbia for seven years. They’ve been banging on the provincial government’s door saying, ‘Let’s get this thing out of our municipally-funded recycling system,’ and into the beverage-industry system.”
Spiegelman adds the Regional District has also shown interest in adding deposit fees on milk cartons.
