Montreal gets first Consignaction centre as part of Quebec's long-delayed expanded container deposit system

After years of delays to the rollout of Quebec's expanded bottle deposit system, Montreal finally has its long-awaited Consignaction centre.

The centre in the borough of Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie opened on Friday, the second centre in Quebec after one opened in Granby, Que., earlier this month.

Consignaction, which manages the new deposit system, plans to open 200 locations by next spring.

Maryse Taupier, senior operations director at Consignaction, says about 250 people come to the Granby centre each day to recycle their containers. 

"The important thing is that on March 1, 2025, there will be Consignaction return locations in the main regions of Quebec to be able to absorb the volumes that will come in at that time," she said.

The new system was originally planned for the fall of 2022, before being postponed to spring of 2023.

Quebec's Environment Minister Benoit Charette blamed the delay on infrastructure, such as sorting equipment, not being ready. 

Xavier Prince works at the Granby centre. His job is to explain how the new system works to visitors.

Press the green button, dump the cans and bottles into the machine and hit the red button. 

The machines automatically sort the containers and spit out a receipt for your refund at a self-checkout kiosk.

At first, it may seem complicated to new users, he says, but they quickly get the hang of it. 

"We guide them step by step to accomplish it," said Prince. 

David Chaput, who came to offload some recyclable containers, says he much prefers the new system to lining up at the grocery store with bags full of cans and bottles — the old way of doing things.

"It's a lot faster, it's a lot easier, it's cleaner. I don't have to manage anything. It's a perfect system," he said.