Bryan Laprise
Are you aware that since plastic was invented in the 1950s, 8.3 billion metric tons of it has been produced? In modern times, close to 380 million metric tons of plastic are being produced annually. About 10 million tons of plastic end up in the oceans every year. Worse yet, nearly 50 percent of the plastic handled around the world each year are single-use plastics that serve their purpose for a few minutes and then are thrown away. One such product is the ubiquitous water bottle, of which nearly 480 billion are used every year. Nonetheless, 74% of people around the world have access to clean drinking water.
« C’est un peu honteux, la quantité de bouteilles de plastique et de verre qui se ramassent au dépotoir, ou même dans nos propres cours d’eau, et jusque sur les plages des Îles-de-la-Madeleine! Les Québécoises et Québécois veulent faire leur part pour la planète. »
—François Legault, Premier of Québec
François Legault, Premier of Québec said it's a bit shameful the amount of plastic and glass bottles that make their way to the dump, or even into our own waterways.
While all of these facts are rather dark, the province of Quebec is coming up with a solution to recycle cartons, plastic bottles, and all aluminium cans. The province is going to be implementing a new consignment system that was inspired by other Canadian provinces, as well as globally.
According to Recyc-Québec, this new system will start in 2022 and gradually come into full effect in 2025. Quebec is also updating its curbside recycling system, increasing the number of items available for recycling. On January 30th, 2020, it was announced that the new consignment system would offer refunds for all ready-to-drink containers from 100 millilitres to 2 litres, whether they be plastic, glass or metal. This is a big step for the province, as since 1984, the system was based on what is in the containers, previously accepting only beer and soda cans or bottles. The new system will be based on the type of container instead.
On July 31st, 2021, the province started pilot projects. The projects were meant to test the functionality of innovating concepts. They were set to end earlier, but due to the pandemic they ended on March 31st, 2022. According to the statistics, more than 8.5 million containers were brought back to various regions around the province. The rate of contamination was marked at less than 3%. The most frequently visited recycling site was at the SAQ, where 85% of the containers were collected.
The aim is to have from 800 to 1,000 collection sites around the province. Most of these will be in large surface area grocery stores such as IGA, Metro and Super C. Some of the collection sites will also be in SAQs.
The goal is to collect 5 million containers on average, per year, per return site. Which would mean being able to recycle 90% of containers by 2030. It is planned to have at least 38 return points in the Estrie region. The estimate is that 93% of the population will have a return point within a 10 minute driving's distance.
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