Since April 1, 2020, many beverage containers that used to be excluded from the New Brunswick Beverage Containers Program (BCP) are now deposit-bearing.
- Milk shakes, milk protein shakes, drinkable yogurt, drinkable kefir, egg nog, iced coffee/tea drinks and other beverages made with dairy now have a deposit. Real milk (cow/goat) – even if flavoured – look for ultra-filtered, skim, partly skimmed 1% / 2% or whole/homogenized 3.25% on the label – continues to be excluded – no deposit charged for consumers.
- Plant-based beverages – most of these now have a deposit. Plant-based beverages that ARE NOT labelled as “fortified” automatically have a deposit. Plant-based beverages that ARE labelled as “fortified” have a deposit ONLY IF the warning “not a source of protein” is also on the label. Plant-based beverages that are labelled as “fortified” and considered a source of protein continue to be excluded – no deposit charged for consumers.
- Sports drinks like protein drinks and electrolyte beverages now have a deposit. Other popular diet type drinks, specifically meal replacements and formulated liquid diets (check the label) continue to be excluded – no deposit charged for consumers.
All beverage products which are now deposit-bearing following these changes must be registered via the Department of Environment and Local Government. A link to the registration form as well as information and tools to help distributors better understand these changes are available on the page Important Information for Distributors on our website. Our tools include a searchable PDF that contains examples of beverage products and can be used to look up various products by name (using the search function in any PDF viewer/reader).
If you are unsure about a certain beverage product and it is not listed in our searchable PDF reference tool, we recommend that you please contact the New Brunswick Department of Environment and Local Government for clarification (Mark Miller – Program Coordinator – 506-453-6329 – mark.miller@gnb.ca).
Note that we at Encorp strongly believe that all beverage containers should be recycled – regardless of the nutritional value of the beverage they contain. While these changes are a step in the right direction towards the inclusion of more beverage products in the program, we will continue to work with BCP stakeholders to push towards a level playing field for all distributors.
