Increase to P.E.I. bottle deposit and refund rates delayed until fall, minister says
Change was planned for August, but province now says it requires legislative amendment
The plan to increase P.E.I.'s bottle and can deposit — and the refund Islanders can get for returning them — has hit a snag.
The change would see deposits on bottles and cans double from 10 cents to 20, and the refund for returning them triple from five to 15 cents.
"So a garbage bag now that you get $5 for, you'll get $15 for it," said Environment, Energy and Climate Action Minister Steven Myers.
Myers previously said the change would happen by August. Now, the earliest it can become a reality is November, he said.
"It's unfortunate, but we can't make the change until we go back to the legislature."
Myers said he found out in June that the change wouldn't be able to happen through simple regulation changes, but rather through an amendment to P.E.I.'s Beverage Containers Act. That change would have to be proposed and and approved by MLAs in the provincial legislature, which doesn't resume until November.
"I told [staff] to go back through all the legal channels to look at what other ways can we do it. Can we make a policy change? Can we make a regulation change? What other changes can we make?" he said.
"Because I want this to happen right away."
But that search didn't provide the department with any alternatives, he said.
"In some cases I can do a [regulation] change.... But this one has to go back to the floor of the legislature."
Once the act is changed, the government would administer the remaining five cents from the deposit, the same amount it does now. Myers said the majority of that, 2.8 cents, goes to the depots that return the bottles to recycling plants.
He said government puts the rest toward a fund that is distributed to wildlife organizations across Prince Edward Island.
'Beyond disappointed' with delay
Myers said the reasoning behind the proposed change is because bottles and cans aren't getting returned at the rate they once were.
"I think you don't see as many people cleaning up the ditches as they once did and collecting the cans and bottles," he said.
In the meantime, Myers said bottle return depots have seen a decrease in traffic as some Islanders hoard their recyclables while they wait for the refund to increase.
"There's two young guys down in Lorne Valley who are collecting cans, and I think they have 11,000 or 12,000 cans collected now," Myers said. "I heard from up west, I ran into a guy who told me his sons had 55,000 cans saved for this."
The minister said he's planning to meet with operators of bottle return depots to discuss the situation, but he doesn't think he'll be able to change anything until the legislature resumes.
"I can either pull the rug out from underneath all these people who have been collecting bottles out of the ditches, or we can sit and wait for this to happen," he said.
Myers said he's "beyond disappointed" with the delay, but he remains committed to making the change as soon as possible. He said he would enact the new legislation as soon as it's passed in the legislature.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Jackie Sharkey