Northwest Territories

Name of program	Beverage Container Program
Beverages covered	All ready-to-drink beverages, excluding milk
Containers covered	Bottle, can, plastic cup or paperboard carton or a package made of metal, plastic, paper, glass or other material, or a combination of them1
Amount of deposit	See table "Charges for Beverage Containers"
Handling fees	See table "Fees for Beverage Containers"
Other fees	See table "Fees for Beverage Containers"
Reclamation system	Privately owned and operated depots in 24 communities. The remaining six communities are serviced by satellite depots.
Unredeemed deposits	Retained by NWT
Program success	Overall rate of return of 82% since program began in 2005 with almost 52 million containers returned to date.

Details

The Beverage Container Regulations,7 as of 1 November 2005, govern the distribution of beverage containers in the territory.

In order to sell beverages covered by the Recycling Regulations, distributors must register with the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) are required to remit to a surcharge (consisting of a refundable deposit and a handling fee established in Schedule 1) in respect of each container entered into the market. Those fees are paid into the “Environment Fund.”8 The environmental fund then pays for the recycling of the materials returned.

Consumers return their beverage containers to licensed depots to receive their refunds. Depot operators deliver the empty containers to assigned processing centers. In addition to the handling fee, which pays for the transportation of the materials, depot operators and processing centres also receive the amounts established in Schedule 2. Materials returned are then sent to either Alberta or Vancouver.

The GNWT pays the processing centre operator. The payment includes the amount paid to the depot operator plus the handling fee for the processing centre operator. The GNWT pays to transport all containers from depots to processing centres. The GNWT also pays to transport refillable glass beer bottles from processing centres to Edmonton. Processing centre operators pay all other transport costs. The processing centre operator also pays the depot operator the refund and the depot’s handling fee for each beverage container.

The fees are set by Schedule 1 to the Regulations, and are as follows:

Surcharges for Beverage Containers			Surcharge
Contents	Volume (L)	Material	Refundable Deposit	Handling Fee
beverages other than wine or spirits	< 1	material other than glass	10 ¢	5 ¢
beverages other than wine or spirits	< 1	glass	10 ¢	10 ¢
beverages other than wine or spirits	>= 1	glass or other material	10 ¢	10 ¢
wine or spirits	any size	glass or other material	25 ¢	10 ¢

The amounts payable, as set by Schedule 2 to the Regulations, are as follows:

Fees for Beverage Containers			Fees
Contents	Volume (L)	Material	Depot	Processing Centre
beverages other than wine or spirits	< 1	material other than glass	2.2 ¢	2.0 ¢
beverages other than wine or spirits	< 1	glass	3.5 ¢	2.5 ¢
beverages other than wine or spirits	>=1	material other than glass	4.5 ¢	3.7 ¢
beverages other than wine or spirits	$1	glass	3.5 ¢	2.5 ¢
wine or spirits	any size	glass or other material	3.5 ¢	2.5 ¢