Quebec - Bottle Bill Resource Guide

Name

Environment Quality Act / Agreement Relating to the Consignment, Recovery & Recycling of Non-Refillable (Soft Drink/Beer) Containers

Date Implemented

1984 (Last updated 2022)

Covered Beverages

All aluminum and plastic ready-to-drink beverage containers from 10mL to 2L are now covered.

The following aluminum ready-to-drink beverages were eligible starting November 2023: [1]

Soft drinks
Beer
Energy Drinks
Wine
Spirits
Cider
Fruit and vegetable juices
Tea
Sparkling and flavored water

The following plastic ready-to-drink beverages are now eligible starting March 1, 2025: [2]

Soft drinks
Water
Sparkling water
Juice
Milk
Wine
Spirits

Covered Containers

The following container material types between 100mL and 2L:

Aluminum
Plastic
Glass (only beer, soft drinks, and kombucha)

Beginning March 2027 [3]:

Multi-layer/material containers (milk/juice)
wine and spirit bottles in glass

Beverages Not Covered

Beverage containers less than 100mL and larger than 2L, regardless of material
Drinkable yogurt and meal supplements
Family-size canned juices
Cans, e.g. tomato juice or pineapple juice
Medicinal syrups

Amount of Deposit

Aluminum and Plastic containers: 10¢ CAD
Glass containers <500 mL: 10¢ CAD
Glass containers ≥ 500mL: 25¢ CAD

Reclamation System

A variety of return modalities are employed.

Handling Fee

2¢ CAD “return incentives” paid to retailers from unredeemed deposits (1¢ CAD for one-way glass containers)

Other Fees

N / A.

Unredeemed Deposits

Used by the Designated Management Bodies (DMBs), the Quebec Association for the Recovery of Beverage Containers, to finance and manage the system. [4]

Program Success

The following redemption rates are for beer and soft drinks only, from the previous DRS leadership under BGE (5¢ CAD only): [5]

Material Type	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016
Aluminum	69.1%	66.5%	69.6%	67.6%	69.5%	70.2%
Glass	17.0%	16.4%	22.9%	24.9%	24.5%	29.0%
Plastic	54.1%	56.5%	65.4%	69.4%	68.0%	70.1%
Total	66.8%	64.8%	68.5%	67.3%	68.8%	69.8%

Complementary Recycling Programs

About 98% of households have access to curbside recycling (excludes residential and commercial occupancy). [6]

Details

Quebec's deposit system was first implemented in 1984 to support the province's existing curbside recycling program. The province's system is characterized by a deposit refund system and an initiative to require industry to fund curbside collection for all remaining containers not part of the deposit-return system. If the funds are not sufficient in a given year to cover the system's costs, producers may be required to cover the difference.

As of October 2022, the Quebec Beverage Container Recovery Association (QBCRA) is the new management body designated by the Société Québécoise de récupération et de recyclage, more commonly known as Recyc-Québec, to manage and oversee the deposit-refund system. The QBCRA is responsible for developing, implementing, financing, and managing the DRS. The QBCRA acts on behalf of beverage producers involved in the recovery, reuse, recycling, and reclamation of beverage containers in Quebec. Consignation is the emblem and official brand of DRS in Quebec. Consignation's role is promote the recovery of returnable beverage containers and to facilitate access to various recovery infrastructures. [7]

In January 2020, it was announced that the deposit system will be expanded to include all glass, plastic, and metal beverage containers between 100 mL and 2L. This will include previously excluded beverage types, like sparkling water, juices, and wine. The plan will raise the deposit value to $0.25 for wine and spirits bottles, and $0.10 for all other containers. [8] This expansion was originally expected to be rolled out in fall 2022 before being postponed to the spring of 2023. [9] [10] In May 2023, the plan was postponed again to 2025 due to concerns about a lack of infrastructure.

From July 2021 to April 2022, Quebec held a seven pilot project series with the objective of modernizing their deposit system. A second phase of three additional pilot projects began on October 24, 2022 and ended in April 2023. The results of the pilot projects will be available by report on June 1, 2023. The collected data will help facilitate an expanded deposit system that will process nearly 5 billion containers.

On November 1, 2023, the first phase of the modernization began; this phase included the addition of previous non-redeemable aluminum containers (juice, sparkling water, cider, etc.) to other containers that were already in the deposit system (such as beer and soft drinks). The second phase began on March 1, 2025; this phase included the addition of previous non-redeemable plastic containers (juice, water, milk, wine, spirits, etc.). [11] The third and final phase was postponed and scheduled for March 1, 2027 to include the addition of glass and multi-layered containers (wine, cider, spirits, and all other beverages). [12]

Soft Drinks

The soft drink industry founded Boissons Gazeuses Environnement, a nonprofit organization, to manage the administrative details of the return system in 1999.

The system mainly handles reclamation through return-to-retail. Soft drink distributors sell their products and pick up empty containers from retail stores in their territory. Once the containers are returned, the bottlers pay the retailer the refund plus a handling fee/return incentive. Bottlers keep the scrap revenues from the containers they collect.

Initially, Quebec's program did not include non-alcoholic beverages like water, juice, and teas. In 1998, soft drink producers and grocery retailers lobbied for a curbside solution instead of a return-to-retail system proposed by the provincial government. In September 1998, the government released its "Québec Residual Materials Management Policy" to determine industry funding for the following decade. [13] The report addresses recyclable consumer packaging and requires industries which produce packaging collected by curbside recycling systems to contribute the large majority of funding for the net costs of municipal recycling through municipal reimbursement.

The schedule of fees for these costs is managed by Éco Entreprises Québec (ÉEQ), a non-profit organization that represents packaging producers. [14]

After the report's implementation, the 20% of beverage containers not previously covered by full producer responsibility (ie beer and soft drinks) are now covered by a system where producers pay 75% of the costs of curbside recycling. This is similar to the Manitoba-style 80% industry contribution towards curbside recycling costs.

Beer System

Non-refillable beer beverage containers are regulated by the same legislation as the non-refillable soft drink system, with both required to operate as return-to-retail. Brewers deliver all beer to retailers directly in urban areas; rural areas are served by warehoused owned by Brewers Distribution Limited. Retailers pay the deposit on beer bottles on delivery to the store, and collect it on sale. Retailers are reimbursed for refunds once the empty containers are picked up by the Brewers. No handling fees are paid.

Prior to 2019, Quebec had a quota system on refillable containers in place to ensure the prevalence of refillable containers in the beer market. The quota system requires each beer producer to produce no more than 37.5% of their production (as measured by the number of containers produced) in non-refillable containers. This change was instituted to ensure that no Brewer could frustrate the intent of the quota law by selling beer in non-refillable glass and counting those sales along with their refillable glass percentage. This law was repealed in 2019, with beer producers able to produce any proportion of non-refillable and refillable containers. [15]