Since April 1, 2024, the Beverage Containers Program in New Brunswick is officially operating as an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program – with consumers seeing an increased financial benefit when recycling empty beverage containers.
For more than 30 years now, New Brunswick consumers have been used to paying deposits when purchasing sealed, ready-to-drink beverage products and getting back half of these deposits as a refund when returning empty containers for recycling at used beverage container return facilities, known as “redemption centres.” Now, since April 1, 2024, the Designated Materials Regulation requires that these deposits be fully refunded to consumers at redemption centres – meaning more money back into their pockets when recycling!
Encorp’s “Recycling Matters. Full Refunds Add Up.” campaign highlights this exciting news that deposits on beverage containers are fully refundable when consumers do the right thing – recycle their empty containers! The campaign was launched officially on Earth Day and is now visible online and in various traditional advertising formats in communities throughout New Brunswick.
Encorp invites retailers to join the cause by using the creatives it has developed for its beverage product displays and in-store point-of-purchase (checkout) areas. The creatives emphasize the benefits of returning empty beverage containers to redemption centres for full refunds on deposits and provide a link to Encorp’s website for more information.
Furthermore, Encorp has also developed standard messaging which can be used at retail to inform consumers about the new internalized container recycling fee (CRF) on deposit-bearing beverage products – which informs them that prices for certain beverage products may include this new fee (in cases where brand owners/retailers are passing them on to consumers). Note that retailers who are passing on CRF costs to consumers should ensure their shelf-talkers, displays, flyers, online catalogues and receipts are in compliance with the Designated Materials Regulation rules concerning passing on these costs.
Once consumers land on encorpatl.ca/recycle, they can find up-to-date information, including current deposit/refund amounts and CRF rates and FAQs, via the “Program Fees” menu. A table breaking down and comparing Program fees from the old program and new EPR Program also helps them understand how – even in the case of CRFs being integrated into the price of certain beverage products – they are now paying fewer program fees than before when they choose to return/recycle empty deposit-bearing containers for refunds.
To learn more about these consumer education tools available for brand owners/retailers, have a look at our Retail Promotions Toolkit web page – which you will find via our website at encorpatl.ca/epr (scroll down to look for and find the green “Retail Promotions Toolkit” button under the section “Assigning Encorp As Your Agent” section). The materials can be ordered – for free – from Encorp – or alternatively, retailers can choose to download and print them in-house by accessing the print-ready files.
