Return of returnable containers | “We need to speed up the pace,” pleads Minister Charette

Beverage manufacturers must “speed up the pace” of opening new return locations for deposit-returnable containers, urges Environment Minister Benoit Charette, who made a surprise visit to one of these establishments on Tuesday.

“We need more of these centres and we need them faster,” he told The Pressas it leaves the Consignaction+ branch in the LaSalle district of Montreal.

“Currently, it’s not fast enough,” lamented the minister, increasing the pressure on the Quebec Association for the Recovery of Beverage Containers (AQRCB), the organization created by stakeholders in the beverage industry to manage the expansion of the deposit system adopted by the Legault government.

Six and a half months before the deadline, the AQRCB has only opened 10 Consignaction and Consignaction+ return locations out of the 200 it promised for the 1^er March 2025 – 200 more are to be added by 2026.

“The date of 1^er March 2025, it is not that of the government,” stressed the minister, recalling that it was the beverage manufacturers who requested the postponement to this date of the extension of the deposit to glass containers, such as wine bottles, to multi-layer containers, such as those used for milk, as well as to all plastic containers that are not yet depositable, such as water bottles.

Beverage manufacturers have “regulatory and legal obligations” regarding the management of the deposit system, emphasizes Minister Charette, recalling that any failure could be sanctioned.

Deployment plan imminent

The deployment plan for these new return locations, which will reduce the pressure on businesses that take back returnable containers, such as grocery stores and convenience stores, must be presented by the AQRCB to Minister Charette “in the coming weeks,” the latter indicated.

“We will expect the AQRCB to inform the population of this deployment plan,” he added.

In October 2022, the AQRCB was entrusted with the management of the new Quebec deposit system for beverage containers by the Société québécoise de récupération et de recyclage (Recyc-Québec).

In February 2024, the organization had requested a loan guarantee from Quebec, saying it was facing “significant difficulties in securing the financing” necessary to open the new return sites, a request that was rejected in May.

The first return location, which was expected in December 2023, finally opened its doors in April 2024, in Granby.

Read “New centre for returnable containers: “It’s great, we’re not waiting any longer””

Efficient system

The operation of the Consignaction branches was nevertheless deemed “very interesting” by Minister Charette, who set foot for the first time in one of these new return locations on Tuesday.

The minister was only annoyed by the English language display on some devices, after dumping a bag full of aluminium cans on them.

The LaSalle branch, open since July 22, was deserted when the minister visited, accompanied by his parliamentary assistant, Argenteuil MP Agnès Grondin.

The two elected officials therefore had the full attention of the attendant, who explained to them how the place worked, interrupted only by calls from his bosses asking him to redirect the minister’s questions to them and not to show him around the back room, for security reasons.

The AQRCB refused to grant an interview to The Press and said in an email sent by a public relations firm that the pace of opening return locations would accelerate, without providing further details.