News Release
For Immediate Distribution
MONCTON – JUNE 4, 2020 – New Brunswickers are urged to step up for their province – and the planet – by ensuring no used beverage container ends up as litter.
Launched this week to celebrate Canadian Environment Week, and United Nations World Environment Day (June 5), ads on buses, transit shelters, electronic billboards, websites and social media invite New Brunswickers to Be a Recycling Hero by always choosing to recycle their empty beverage containers. The campaign will last well into the summer months and early fall.
The campaign is led by Encorp Atlantic, the organization responsible for collecting, processing, and recycling all non-alcoholic beverage containers that consumers bring back to redemption centres in communities across New Brunswick.
“New Brunswickers have recycling in their DNA,” says Encorp Atlantic General Manager Pierre Landry. “We have seen it these past few weeks as redemption centres reopened once the COVID-19 State of Emergency measures started being relaxed. New Brunswickers were exemplary in patiently stocking their used beverage containers at home while redemption centres were forced to close temporarily, and they are now returning these containers in droves. But there is always room for improvement. Annually, we estimate that approximately 30% of deposit-bearing non-alcoholic beverage containers sold in the province do not make it to redemption centres post-use. Everyone has seen at some point beverage containers carelessly left as litter on the side of the road, on sidewalks, beaches, trails, and other outdoor spaces. Being a Recycling Hero means having a zero-tolerance policy for littering, speaking up when you see someone littering, and making sure to always recycle your empty beverage containers.”
Encorp Atlantic has recycled more than 4 billion non-alcoholic beverage containers since the start of the New Brunswick Beverage Containers Program in 1992. Through this program, beverage product distributors are required to package their beverages in containers that can be returned either for refilling or recycling. Refillable glass bottles are washed, sterilized, and refilled. Plastic, non-refillable glass, metal, carton, and other containers are recycled. The cost of processing all these containers is taken from half of the deposit fee that consumers pay upon purchase. Consumers get the other half of this deposit back as a refund when they return the empty beverage containers to a redemption centre.
“Four billion containers recycled is truly something to celebrate! We hear a lot these days about plastic pollution and landfills being full. New Brunswickers should know that beverage product distributors are doing their part by being held accountable for recycling and reusing the packaging in which their products are sold thanks to the Beverage Containers Program and its network of redemption centres. We want to recycle more, and it is really up to the public to participate by returning their empty beverage containers to their local redemption centres. These are independently owned small businesses that earn revenue for sorting, counting, preparing and shipping used beverage containers to be processed for recycling and refilling. Consumers can thus feel good about supporting an important business in their community when they recycle.”
Landry adds that when out and about enjoying their favourite beverages, New Brunswickers should always make recycling a priority, and either keep empty beverage containers with them to put in their recycling bin or bag at home for their next trip to their local redemption centre or look for and use public recycling bins – depending on which options are offered in their community.
“There is just no excuse for littering nowadays – especially not with beverage containers which are so easy to reuse and recycle.”
Information on recycling, a list of redemption centres, and posters that community groups, schools and workplaces can download, print, and display to support the campaign are available at encorpatl.ca.
Media inquiries:
Pierre Landry – General Manager – Encorp Atlantic
506.389.7320 pierre@encorpatl.ca
Encorp Atlantic provides used beverage container management services to organizations that distribute deposit-bearing non-alcoholic beverage products in New Brunswick. Encorp Atlantic represents more than 85 non-alcoholic beverage product distributors and is responsible for processing and recycling all non-alcoholic deposit-bearing beverage containers received by redemption centres in the province.
