Deposit on beverage containers | Grocery stores fear being overwhelmed

Grocery stores tried in vain to be exempted from taking back some of the beverage containers which will be deposited from 1^is next March, fearing being overwhelmed, especially since the SAQ will not take back empty bottles.

Faced with the reduction in the number of Consignaction return locations which will be ready during the second phase of the extension of the deposit, in less than four months, food retailers have proposed to Quebec to accept only the containers that they already take back, either aluminum cans and plastic bottles, indicated to The Press three sources familiar with the matter, but who were not authorized to speak about it publicly.

For other containers, such as glass bottles and multi-layer milk or juice cartons, customers would be directed to a Consignaction return location. There are only 21 in all of Quebec at present, but this number will reach 95 by the 1^is mars¹promises the Quebec Association for the Recovery of Beverage Containers (AQRCB). In any case, this remains well below the 200 initially announced.

The reform of the Quebec deposit system provides that the AQRCB must also provide retailers with the equipment allowing them to take back returnable containers.

« Au 1^is March, the equipment will not be delivered [en totalité] », Deplores Michel Rochette, president of the Canadian Retail Council for Quebec, who places the blame on the AQRCB.

” It is [aux détaillants] to tell us [quel équipement] they want,” retorts Jean-François Lefort, vice-president of corporate affairs at the AQRCB, who says he cannot impose anything on retailers.

Up to 3 million fines

Quebec rejected the retailers’ proposal, presented during a meeting on October 22. In the following days, the government sent them a letter reminding them of their legal obligation to take back all returnable containers from 1^is mars 2025.

If they are found in default, they face fines of $3,000 to $3 million per day, recalls the missive, signed by the Minister of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlife. Parks, Benoit Charette.

The letter has caused panic among retailers, who are realizing that they may have relied too much on the AQRCB to make the new system work, analyzes Karel Ménard, general director of the Front commun québécois pour une gestion économique des waste, which believes that both camps hold their share of responsibility.

Quebec expects to receive in the coming days “a serious recovery scenario that respects the established regulatory framework” from the AQRCB and retailers, declared Minister Charette’s communications director, Mélina Jalbert.

Race against time

The AQRCB claims to have ordered the equipment for 200 “permanent” retailers, who will continue to take returnable containers when the 407 Consignaction branches planned by June 2026 are open.

They will be delivered in time for the 1^is March, assures Mr. Lefort, but perhaps not installed.

More than 900 retailers remain to be equipped by the 1^is March to reach the minimum of 1,200 return locations required by the reform of the Quebec deposit system.

Producers and retailers are racing against time to be ready for the expansion of the 1^is March, the date they themselves set.

“There is a greater openness now [de l’AQRCB] to consider solutions that had not been done before,” affirms Michel Rochette, referring to turnkey equipment that can be installed outside, which does not require redevelopment of businesses.

The return of certain containers, particularly dairy products, will pose health problems in food stores, argue the retailers, recalling that they have requirements from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPAQ) to be respected.

These external solutions had already been offered to retailers, who had not initially retained them, argues the AQRCB.

No return to the SAQ

The Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) will not take back any of the containers that will be deposited from 1^is March, including the bottles of wine and spirits it sells. This will increase the pressure on other businesses, retailers deplore.

The vast majority of the SAQ’s approximately 400 branches have a surface area of ​​less than 375 m^⁠2 (4036 pi^⁠2), or the threshold below which businesses are not required to take back returnable containers, according to the reform.

As for the 91 branches with a surface area greater than 375 m^⁠2the state-owned company is preparing “affiliations” with other businesses located nearby, explained its vice-president of public affairs, communications and social responsibility, Marie-Hélène Lagacé.

This is because the deposit reform exempts retailers from taking back containers if there is a return location within a radius of three, four or five kilometers, depending on population density.

But the delay in the opening of Consignaction branches and the delivery of container take-back equipment to retailers risks causing certain SAQ branches not to be close to a return location and will therefore be in the obligation to take them back, temporarily.

“If the best solution turns out to be an SAQ branch, we are not closed, but we must be able to receive this volume. That’s the challenge,” says M^me Lagacé.

The return system designed by the AQRCB is good, but its implementation is not advanced enough, believes the SAQ.

“The issue is the 1^is March, said M^me Lagacé. Currently, we are concerned. »

1. Read the article “Fewer return locations and further delays”