In what is being called a “groundbreaking” initiative, the Airdrie Bottle Depot, along with several other bottle depots in the Calgary area, will now be accepting takeout food containers from Calgary-based company Earthware Reusables Inc.
“It’s the first time we have taken anything outside of beverage containers with a deposit,” explained Airdrie Bottle Depot manager Gagandeep Johal. “We are super excited to see if we can expand on to other stuff that is not a beverage, and we are super excited about this.”
Johal, who sits on the board of directors with the Alberta Bottle Depot Association, said Earthware Reusables first approached the association a while ago to see if there was any interest among bottle depots in hosting a pilot project wherein the company would have its customers pay a $0.10 deposit (five cents for the lids and five cents for the bottoms) for every container they buy.
The containers, which are washable and reusable, could then be returned to participating bottle depots, and the customers would get their deposits back.
“They are special containers,” explained Johal. “If they have the Earthware logo on it, they are reusable, washable containers. So any restaurant that uses the black or Styrofoam containers, they are not part of the system.”
Johal added Earthware is the only brand right now that is refundable.
After the initial pilot project was deemed a success, Johal said he was excited to bring this new recycling option to Airdronians with the second phase expansion of the project.
“I thought it was a pretty good opportunity for Airdrie, and I was more than happy to take it on,” he said. “Beverage containers have a recyclable rate of 85 per cent; so if they can come anywhere near to that it would be a success. Diverting stuff from the landfill is our goal.”
Johal said Alberta has long been considered a leader in recycling in Canada, with the first policies on the subject stemming back to the Peter Lougheed years in 1972. Since then, the province has opened various streams for recycling metals, cardboard, and other materials.
However, this new initiative, according to Johal, pushes the province toward a potential new frontier of recycling by helping reduce the use of one-time plastics and Styrofoam in the local food service industry.
“It’s groundbreaking,” he stated. “We are just trying to add new material streams, and we are really happy that Earthware has joined us to keep these containers out of the landfills.”
