Manitobans break previous recycling record

Manitoba is very close to reaching the government-mandated goal of recycling plastic beverage containers. 

Ken Friesen is the Executive Director with Canadian Beverage Container Recycling Association (CBCRA). They are the organization that runs Recycle Everywhere. 

"In 2020, we achieved a 79 per cent recovery rate for all PET plastic beverage containers in the province."

Almost all plastic beverage containers are made of PET, such as pop bottles. Overall, Manitobans are at a 71 per cent recovery rate, including all beverage containers. 

"Plastic, as you know, is a real focus today across the world, in part because of ocean-bound plastic. We're part of the Canada plastic-pact. We are and the world is very focused on plastic as compared to the other materials in use right now."

On July 22, the Canada plastic-pact released new design guidelines to help reduce plastic packaging.

"By putting your empty beverage containers into blue bins you are not only diverting waste but also extending their lifecycle by enabling the materials to come back as new containers or other products. Manitobans should be proud of achieving one of the highest PET recovery rates in Canada," says Friesen.

He says that just 10 years ago, Manitobans recycled plastic at the rate of only 42 per cent. 

"We've come a long but we don't want to stop there. This year we've implemented an incentive program that works with a recycle everywhere app. Whenever they consume a beverage container, they can scan the bin they're going to throw it into and the barcode on the container and they'll be entered to win prizes."

The app gives away daily and weekly prizes as well as grand prizes. Cynthia Beck was the first recipient to win $25,000, the semi-annual grand prize, for recycling her empty beverage container at a Recycle Everywhere bin in Winnipeg.

"Over the years we've got 70,000 bins out there, so we're trying to make things really convenient for Manitobans."

The CBCRA is also running a campaign called Help Close the Loop. It means the plastic made is then recycled and made again, closing the loop on creating new containers from scratch.

When the pandemic hit, fast food and coffee places stopped allowing reusable cups from being refilled, causing the unrecyclable cup to be the only option. That is likely to change shortly according to Friesen.

"There is a lot of work being done in terms of how drive-thru cups are being designed so that they're more easily recyclable. I think we're going to see in the not so distant future, those become recyclable as well, which is great for everyone."

The Minister of Conservation and Climate was happy with the higher percentage of recycled materials as well. 

"We are now only four percentage points away from achieving the government-mandated goal of recovering 75 per cent of all empty beverage containers sold in Manitoba. Every container counts," says Sarah Guillemard.