OPINION LCBO should get on board

Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest, and that could very well be true of the provincial government's plan to recycle bottles purchased at LCBO outlets. While his plan was short on vital details, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced Sunday that, beginning in February, deposits will be charged on alcohol containers bought at the LCBO. The bottles would then have to be returned to Beer Stores. Under the plan, 80 million LCBO bottles that currently end up in landfills would be recycled. According to Ontario environmental commissioner Gord Miller, only 20 per cent of LCBO bottles are recycled because many bottles break in the recycling process, mixing coloured and clear glass and therefore making the glass unusable for recycling. No bottles are refilled. The new plan, however, would see consumers return LCBO bottles to Beer Stores for a refund (an amount McGuinty failed to reveal as well as how much extra consumers will have to pay) while Beer Store staff will sort the bottles. Earlier this summer, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, urged the Province to impose a deposit-return system on bottles because of the high cost for municipalities to run their Blue Box systems. Currently, Ontario and Manitoba are the only provinces without extensive bottle-return systems. The Beer Store has an impressive 98 per cent recovery rate for returnable bottles and a 90 per cent rate for aluminum cans. One can't help but wonder if Beer Stores can do so well at bottle returns, why can't the LCBO? As every municipality in Ontario struggles to try and cope with over-burdened landfills and find ways to deal with ever-increasing waste, it is imperative that everyone try to be part of the solution. That includes the LCBO.