A new site for collecting recyclable beverage containers could open in Gatineau’s Hull sector by the end of the year after the city approved zoning for the project earlier this week, amid growing demand for deposit refunds in western Quebec.
The approval comes after the province expanded the types of containers subject to deposits. Previously, the measure applied mostly to aluminum and plastic beverage containers with a 10-cent deposit.
But on March 1, the program was expanded to include an additional 1.2 billion ready-to-consume beverage containers between 100 millilitres and two litres, such as milk, juice and water bottles.
The deposit is refundable if the bottle is returned to participating retailers such as grocery stores, or to a Consignaction centre like the one in Buckingham, Que. Consignation is the brand used by the Quebec Beverage Container Recycling Association (QBCRA), which operates the depots.
Tuesday’s zoning approval allows the QBCRA to build a second centre for collecting containers in Gatineau’s core.
According to the association’s vice-president Jean-François Lefort, Quebec’s 77 existing sites have collected 290 million beverage containers since April 2024 — over 250 million of those after the March expansion.
Pierre-Alexandre Blouin, president and CEO of food and beverage industry group l’Association des détaillants en alimentation du Québec, said the volume of containers being returned to member businesses has been “way above our capacity” to receive them.
“The system is pushed through to its limit and the retailers are doing the best they can, but their machines are broken, their warehouses are full,” Blouin said in French. “We really need … more dedicated sites to be built.”
The additional centres in Quebec come as several Beer Store locations in Ontario are closing. They currently process about 1.6 billion empty alcohol containers per year.