{"id":319137,"date":"2025-12-01T20:59:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T20:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/319137\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T20:59:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T20:59:13","slug":"city-of-iqaluit-mulls-takeover-of-beer-can-refund-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/319137\/","title":{"rendered":"City of Iqaluit mulls takeover of beer can refund program"},"content":{"rendered":"

Residents, businesses losing 15-cent deposits without return system, while litter accumulates<\/p>\n

The City of Iqaluit is exploring the purchase of a machine where residents could exchange their empty aluminum cans for cash.<\/p>\n

Municipal staff is looking at developing a \u201cbusiness case\u201d to determine the feasibility of the move, Bill Williams, the city\u2019s director of infrastructure, told councillors at their Nov. 25 regular council meeting.<\/p>\n

The Government of Nunavut charges a 15-cent deposit on aluminum cans of alcohol sold in the territory. People previously could take their cans to a facility located at the Iqaluit business Northern Collectibles.<\/p>\n

But the business discontinued the service in July, leaving consumers with nowhere to take cans for a refund.<\/p>\n

The concept Williams presented to council includes a city-provided machine where residents could bring in empty beer cans for a refund of their deposits. The Government of Nunavut, which collects the deposits, would provide the refunds.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal, if approved by council, is to come up with a program that would be fully cost-recovered from the GN and not put the city in any jeopardy, financially,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

Councillors unanimously gave the green light to start a feasibility study into this option.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to seeing how this could work and improve our city,\u201d said Deputy Mayor Kim Smith, who described the sight of cans on the streets as \u201cpretty gross.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iqaluit resident Derek Allerton says he has picked up 4,000 cans over the past six months. During a walk along Joamie Court on Friday afternoon, Allerton picked at least 20 cans off the side of the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know there are a lot more cans out there, and without the financial incentive for people to bring back cans many people don\u2019t pick them up,\u201d Allerton said.<\/p>\n

The lack of a return system is an additional cost for some businesses.<\/p>\n

Steve Sullivan, president of the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce and head of hospitality at Qikiqtaaluk Corp., said licenced bars and restaurants are losing a \u201csignificant\u201d amount of money in lost can deposits and fees.<\/p>\n

Without a recycling and return system in the city, cans are just going to the dump.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t seem to be fair to be taking that money from individuals and businesses for no service,\u201d Sullivan said.<\/p>\n

He said he wants the GN to respond to businesses\u2019 concerns. He\u2019s glad the city is looking into a solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a fantastic idea,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re willing to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the election, former finance minister Lorne Kusugak mentioned the department was in talks with the city on a possible recycling program.<\/p>\n

Hala Duale, spokesperson for the Department of Finance, acknowledged there is currently nowhere to recoup deposits in Iqaluit.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe [Nunavut Liquor and Cannabis Commission] continues to set aside 15 cents from each aluminum can sold to support recycling once services resume,\u201d she said in an email.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The commission] would purchase services from a municipal service if one was available.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allerton said the city will have a lot to consider about how this system is operated and maintained, including that it might take in hundreds of thousands cans per month.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s a great idea and it\u2019s better than what we currently have right now, which is nothing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents, businesses losing 15-cent deposits without return system, while litter accumulates The City of Iqaluit is exploring the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-319137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}