Ontario pop and juice recycling fee program halted as province looks into deposit-return system

An Ontario program that would have seen producers of non-alcoholic beverages like pop cans and juice bottles pay recycling fees has been put on hold.

An Ontario program that would have seen producers of non-alcoholic beverages like pop cans and juice bottles pay recycling fees has been put on hold.

The initiative, called “Recycle Everywhere,” was being launched by the Canadian Beverage Container Recycling Association (CBCRA) and was set to begin at the end of July after multiple delays.

But CTV News Toronto has learned the program has been halted.

“CBCRA has determined there is no viability to continue with the launch of Recycle Everywhere while the Ontario government adjusts the parameters for beverage container producer responsibility and explores a deposit return system for the recovery of non-alcoholic beverage containers,” Ken Friesen, executive director of CBCRA said in a statement.

“CBCRA has decided to halt plans to launch Recycle Everywhere in Ontario.”

The initiative was part of Ontario’s new Blue Box regulations, which puts the onus on producers of waste to fund and run recycling systems.

Earlier this year a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Environment said that expenses associated with recycling costs taxpayers millions of dollars every year.