The Redemption Centre (RC) Service Agreement between Encorp and RC operators was recently finalized and signed. This is the first step in continuing our partnership and advancing environmental performance for the Beverage Containers Program.
The 7-year Agreement will help ensure financial stability for RCs by increasing fees paid by Encorp and providing subsidies for small or rural centres. For consumers, the Agreement enhances recycling accessibility by increasing Saturday hours (6 hours year-round) and improves used beverage container (UBC) transaction traceability/transparency through province-wide use of the EnSys-Connex point-of-sale (POS) system.
Please know that we share with RCs the same goal: to improve the beverage container recycling system in New Brunswick and have more consumers return and recycle their deposit-bearing beverage containers. This shared goal is what drives us, and we believe that together, we can make a significant impact.
As stated in our Stewardship Plan, we remain committed to enhancing the beverage container return/redemption experience, making UBC collection more accessible in public spaces like schools and outdoor events, reducing littering, and focusing on youth education and outreach to foster a new generation of lifelong recyclers. We will continue to expand our communications and education efforts to encourage more New Brunswickers to return and redeem their UBCs through the network of RC locations.
We view RCs as our key partners in these endeavors and thank them for their continued trust and valued relationship with Encorp.