Why the Ford government nixed deposit on soft drink cans, bottles

Ontario has the worst recycling rates in Canada for cans, plastic bottles and cartons of non-alcoholic beverages, with billions of these containers going to landfills and incinerators annually.

But for more than a year, momentum was building toward a key shift to try to improve things. Premier Doug Ford's government was seriously considering creating a deposit-return system for soft drink containers, a system that's already in place in eight other provinces and that already exists for beer, wine and spirits in Ontario. 

That momentum began in June 2023, when Ford's then-minister of the environment, David Piccini, launched a working group to hammer out recommendations for such a system.

The working group included representatives from the beverage, retail and waste management industries, as well as environmental stakeholders and provincial officials. Over the course of a year, its members researched how a deposit-return system could operate, be financially sustainable and achieve better recycling rates than Ontario's blue boxes.     

Then suddenly, with zero advance notice and no public announcement — and with a potential LCBO strike dominating the news —  senior government officials phoned the participants on the afternoon of July 4 to tell them the working group was being shut down, and plans for the deposit-return system scrapped. 

What follows is the inside story of how, in a battle with big financial implications for companies and big environmental implications for Ontario, Doug Ford's government sided with Big Grocery over Big Beverage. 

Reaction to the government's U-turn tells you plenty about where the key players stand on a deposit-return system. The retail industry was overjoyed. The beverage industry and environmental groups were outraged.

Ashley Wallis, an associate director of the non-profit advocacy group Environmental Defence and a member of the working group, says she was shocked and very disappointed. 

"It's a huge step in the wrong direction," Wallis said in an interview. "This immediate decision to not only end the working group, but actually completely back away from deposit-return, it totally caught me by surprise." 

The Canadian Beverage Association, whose members include the major drink producers such as Coke and Pepsi, called the cancellation a significant setback for the environment and the people of Ontario.

"I was very surprised and disappointed," said Krista Scaldwell, the association's president, in an interview.  "We invested a year's worth of time and energy and really good research. To get that cancelled last minute without any consultation ... it isn't fair."  

The Retail Council of Canada, whose members include the major grocery chains and big box stores such as Loblaws and Costco, welcomed the move to abandon plans for deposit-return. 

"Retail Council of Canada fully supports the government's stance," said Michelle Wasylyshen, the organization's national spokesperson, in an email to CBC News. "We applaud the government's approach because it avoids cost to customers, while still holding companies to high targets."

That difference of opinion illustrates the tug-of-war between the big companies that produce beverages and the big supermarket chains that sell them, over how to deal with all those containers of soda, juice and water once they're empty.