How Does A Bottle Depot Make Money In Alberta?

The Alberta bottle depot program is one of the most effective and innovative programs in North America. It is so effective because each member of the process has an incentive to participate so the level of engagement and participation is high. And everyone profits from it, so they are happy to participate. When you visit the bottle depot near me, you just want to go in, drop off your bottles and get out with your refund, but often people wonder how a bottle depot makes money, which is a great question!

 

For every ready to drink product in a container that is sold in Alberta, a deposit is taken at the time of purchase. There is also a one cent container recycling fee charged. Containers that are under one litre are charged a ten cent deposit. Containers that are one litre or more are charged a twenty five cent deposit. The same charge of one cent is used on every container for the container recycling fee.

When you bottle return in Calgary, the deposit is refunded to you, but the container recycling fee is not. That fee is kept by the bottle depot as payment for their operating costs. That is one way that the bottle depot near me makes money.

Next, the vast majority of bottles and cans are collected by the people who paid the deposit and they return them for a refund. There are also charity groups that collect empty drink containers and return them for the refund to raise money. There are also people everywhere who work independently to round up the bottles that have been discarded in the recycle bins or garbage, or even littered, and return them to earn extra income. All of this means that the vast majority of bottle refunds are claimed, but there are still some that make their way to the depot without anyone claiming them. All of those unclaimed refunds are part of the money a bottle depot makes as well.

Lastly, and the most lucrative, bottle return in Calgary is profitable for bottle depots because they sell the scrap materials they collect. This is a huge benefit to the environment because it means that as much material as possible is recycled and reused for new items. It is also a benefit to the bottle depot because recycled material is in high demand. It’s cheaper to acquire and process than new raw materials and in many cases, there are rebates and incentives to use recycled materials. And consumers like to buy products that allow them to positively contribute to doing better for our environment.

This is why a bottle depot wants to have as many empty drink containers returned to them as possible. They make their money from how many containers they can process in the shortest amount of time. This is why they are supportive of bottle drives and even invest their own resources to help them. They also offer free services like pick up to get as many returns in as fast as possible. This is a huge win-win for everyone!