Last month, Ontario drinkers starting paying up to 20
cents more per bottle of their favourite wine or spirits – a deposit
they can get back if they return the empty bottle to the Beer Store.
Last month, Ontario drinkers starting paying up to 20 cents more per bottle of their favourite wine or spirits – a deposit they can get back if they return the empty bottle to the Beer Store.
The much-touted bottle return program is intended to get as many as 80 million wine bottles out of landfills, where many eventually end up through the blue box program, and see them properly recycled.
But Ontario restaurants are far from embracing the program.
Stephanie Jones, Ontario vice-president of the Canadian Foodservices and Restaurant Association, said her members stand to lose $35 million under the scheme. Many are locked into inflexible recycling contracts and others don’t have the means to store or haul their bottles to the Beer Store for refunds, she said.
“It’s going to be very difficult for restaurants to participate in this program,” Jones said. “The big concern is that costs associated with this program are simply being downloaded to licencees.”
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