Ontario Deposit Return Program

Under the program, a mandatory fee (deposit) is collected at the point of sale of alcoholic beverages, based on their containers, as follows: those purchased at U-Vint, U-Brew, and duty-free shops, and those purchased before 5 February 2007. A refund for the deposit is made to the customer once the container is returned to The Beer Store, or to an LCBO Agency store, an empty bottle dealer in rural communities, or a commercial return depot. Its first year of operation was expected to cost the province $15 million, anticipating approximately 150 million containers would be returned. Previously, the province paid $5 million a year to Waste Diversion Ontario for glass reclamation from municipal Blue box programs. As part of the monitoring of this program, a mystery shopping company was contracted to visit 85% or more of the return locations on an annual basis. During each visit, a variety of empties were returned for refund to determine if the unit employees knew how to appropriately identify the container and provide the correct refund amount. == Return rates and statistics ==

From 1 May 2008 to 30 April 2009, the program collected 259 million wine and spirit containers, approximately 73% of those sold by the LCBO and other retailers. The previous year, 67% of such containers were returned. and 120,000 tonnes of packaging About 68% of alcoholic beverage containers were collected by the blue box programs, but mixed broken glass is currently recycled into "high value" products including glass containers and fiberglass in Alberta and Quebec, Ontario was previously able to do so as well. The current fate of glass recycled from the ODRP, Ontario Waste Management, and Municipalities is not disclosed. Scavenging to return for deposit glass and other material obtained from the blue boxes may be restricted by bylaws; the city of Toronto, for example, passed the Residential Collection By-Law 844-23-C to prohibit scavenging but the regulation is only rarely enforced and the practice remains prevalent throughout the downtown core. Since the program's inception in 2007, to May 2017, three billion alcohol containers have been kept out of the province's landfills, instead being recycled through the Ontario Deposit Return Program, about 1.1 million tonnes of beverage alcohol containers have been diverted from landfill and 80% of all empties are returned to The Beer Store each year. == Program promotion ==

The program was promoted via in-store advertising at the LCBO and its Agency Stores, at The Beer Store and its Retail Partners, and at Ontario wineries. Television, internet, and radio promotional campaigns were also created. The advertisements were designed by the LCBO, and the promotional campaign began on 15 January 2007. ==References==