- Each year, close to one billion, three hundred million (1,300,000,000) single-use refundable containers are in circulation in Québec.
- Thanks to the deposit system, BGE and its partners are able to recover close to nine hundred million (900,000,000), or approximately 70%. That’s not bad at all!
- Nonetheless, there are still four hundred million (400,000,000) containers that are not returned to the retailer or recycled.
- If we add up all of the 5¢ deposits that are not refunded, this represents an unclaimed $20 million in deposits each and every year.
The outcome?
Several tonnes of recyclable materials pointlessly occupy landfill sites which in turn pollute our cities, forests, lakes, and rivers. Did you know that one plastic bottle can take as long as 400 years to decompose? Furthermore, it takes between 200 and 500 years for an aluminum can to decompose, and thousands of years for a glass bottle.
The following tables show the statistics of the recovery of refundable containers by the Soft Drink Industry in Québec. These Figures do not include the Beer Industry's results.
Sales and recovery in units by soft drink bottlers
Total
|
|
Sales | Recovery | % |
| 2009 |
1 127 392 232
|
822 965 504
|
73.0% |
| 2008 |
1 133 967 172 |
814 364 337 |
71.8% |
| 2007 |
1 130 883 467 |
800 435 180 |
70 8% |
In detail, broken down by material, the sales and recovery by soft drink bottlers
Aluminum
|
|
Sales | Recovery | % |
| 2009 |
817 228 353
|
604 031 838
|
73.9% |
| 2008 |
833 292 436 |
606 760 952 |
72.8% |
| 2007 |
824 148 067 |
596 111 744 |
72.3% |
Plastic (PET)
|
|
Sales | Recovery | % |
| 2009 |
299 802 806
|
214 775 976
|
71.6% |
| 2008 |
289 243 518 |
202 835 260 |
70.1% |
| 2007 |
293 581 707 |
199 559 960 |
68.0% |
Glass
|
|
Sales | Recovery | % |
| 2009 |
10 361 073
|
4 157 690
|
40.1% |
| 2008 |
11 431 218 |
4 768 125 |
41.7% |
| 2007 |
13 153 693 |
4 763 476 |
36.2% |
|
