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6. Deposits, Refunds and Recovery Rates

6 Deposits, Refunds and Recovery Rates

6.1 Recycling By the Numbers

We prevented over 1 billion containers from going to landfills in 2017, ensuring that they were recycled into useful new materials and products. That’s a big win for British Columbia’s environment.

1 Billion
Containers Collected
75.8 %
Recovery Rate
$ 71,214,417
Deposits Refunded


Slide the table left and right. (Scroll bar is below table.)
Container Type Containers Sold Containers Recovered Recovery Rate
2017 2016 2017 2016 2017 2016
Aluminum 450,794,458 430,155,053 362,645,595 353,768,128 80.4% 82.2%
Plastic ≤ 1L 471,268,072 431,900,607 327,640,804 312,378,059 69.5% 72.3%
Plastic > 1L 62,579,952 62,207,100 52,648,960 52,658,016 84.1% 84.6%
Plastic Total 533,848,024 494,107,707 380,289,764 365,036,075 71.2% 73.9%
Glass 237,436,479 233,778,525 207,709,038 207,455,314 87.5% 88.7%
Drink Box 99,689,278 99,682,081 56,445,160 58,027,005 56.6% 58.2%
Gable Top 11,582,300 12,009,623 8,029,254 8,366,312 69.3% 69.7%
Bi-Metal 5,201,822 5,748,590 4,213,666 4,905,494 81.0% 85.3%
Bag-In-Box 3,928,995 3,791,788 1,890,317 1,815,240 48.1% 47.9%
Pouches 6,668,081 3,649,106 2,083,245 1,376,243 31.2% 37.7%
Totals 1,349,149,437 1,282,922,473 1,023,306,039 1,000,749,811 75.8% 78.0%

Note: Calculations may show slight variances due to rounding.



Recovery by Weight

In 2017, Encorp Pacific recovered over 93.8 thousand metric tonnes of containers.

84.1%
2017 Recovery Rate by Weight
85.4%
2016 Recovery Rate by Weight
Slide the table left and right. (Scroll bar is below table.)
Type Estimated Weight of
Containers Sold
(mt)
Estimated Weight of
Containers Recovered
(mt)
Recovery
by Weight
%
Aluminum 6,401.3 5,149.6 80.4%
Plastic 14,820.0 10,887.8 73.5%
Glass 86,185.1 75,199.8 87.3%
Polycoat 2,719.7 1,813.2 66.7%
Bi-Metal 391.6 301.1 76.9%
Bag-In-Box 962.3 463.0 48.1%
Pouches 39.9 12.5 31.3%
Totals 111,519.9 93,827.0 84.1%

Note: Calculations may show slight variances due to rounding.



6.2 Regional Per Capita Returns

Provincial Totals:
Units Returned 1,023,306,039
Weight Collected (Tonnes) 93,828
Per Capita Units Returned 212.4
Per Capita Weight Collected (Kilograms) 19.5

Regional Breakdown:

Slide the table left and right. (Scroll bar is below table.)
Region Name   Aluminum Plastic Glass Polycoat Other Total Jan-2017
Per Capita
Jan-2016
Per Capita
Change to
Per Capita
Container Returns
/ Units (000)
Bulkley / Nechako Units
(000)
4,019 3,953 1,141 666 47 9,826 218.9 241.5 (22.6)
  Tonnes 57.1 108.0 395.5 14.9 5.2 580.7 12.9 kg 14.7 kg  
Cariboo Units
(000)
6,764 6,944 2,285 898 96 16,987 268.1 270.7 (2.6)
  Tonnes 96.1 192.1 799.3 22.3 10.0 1,119.8 17.7 kg 18.3 kg  
Central Coast Units
(000)
310 175 64 38 3 590 183.7 204.2 (20.5)
  Tonnes 4.4 5.7 23.4 1.0 0.2 34.7 10.8 kg 12.2 kg  
Fraser - Fort George Units
(000)
11,692 11,769 3,970 1,921 158 29,510 327.4 321.0 6.4
  Tonnes 166.0 320.1 1,368.1 45.5 14.6 1,914.3 21.2 kg 21.0 kg  
Kitimat - Stikine Units
(000)
4,373 3,988 1,045 667 71 10,144 274.8 279.8 (5.0)
  Tonnes 62.1 112.2 382.3 16.5 5.6 578.7 15.7 kg 16.1 kg  
Skeena - Queen Charlotte Units
(000)
2,529 2,224 734 318 38 5,843 346.9 338.0 8.9
  Tonnes 35.9 62.5 261.6 8.1 3.2 371.3 22.0 kg 21.7 kg  
Northern Rockies Units
(000)
466 745 111 57 3 1,382 235.3 259.0 (23.7)
  Tonnes 6.6 19.2 40.6 1.3 0.4 68.1 11.6 kg 12.8 kg  
Peace River Units
(000)
6,301 8,226 2,086 936 94 17,643 283.5 256.9 26.6
  Tonnes 89.5 217.6 709.4 22.9 5.4 1,044.8 16.8 kg 15.2 kg  
Capital Regional District Units
(000)
30,308 27,324 20,911 4,887 626 84,056 214.4 218.1 (3.7)
  Tonnes 430.4 822.2 7,754.7 148.3 76.0 9,231.6 23.5 kg 24.2 kg  
Cowichan Valley Units
(000)
9,381 7,961 4,130 1,224 184 22,880 267.7 264.0 3.7
  Tonnes 133.2 231.0 1,532.2 34.1 22.4 1,952.9 22.9 kg 22.5 kg  
Alberni / Clayoquot Units
(000)
4,207 3,725 1,818 478 72 10,300 338.2 323.0 15.2
  Tonnes 59.7 106.7 645.0 14.4 6.7 832.5 27.3 kg 26.3 kg  
Comox Units
(000)
7,097 6,754 3,801 975 152 18,779 283.8 282.5 1.3
  Tonnes 100.8 194.3 1,409.5 29.3 20.8 1,754.7 26.5 kg 26.2 kg  
Mount Waddington Units
(000)
1,657 1,331 407 183 17 3,595 323.1 315.1 8.0
  Tonnes 23.5 38.8 151.2 4.8 2.4 220.7 19.8 kg 19.9 kg  
Nanaimo Units
(000)
13,869 12,874 7,932 1,892 299 36,866 229.1 226.1 3.0
  Tonnes 196.9 372.7 2,928.1 56.1 42.0 3,595.8 22.3 kg 22.2 kg  
Strathcona Units
(000)
3,297 2,778 1,488 432 64 8,059 173.1 167.1 6.0
  Tonnes 46.8 81.2 550.9 12.6 8.6 700.1 15.0 kg 14.4 kg  
Greater Vancouver Units
(000)
149,810 167,228 98,799 32,171 4,302 452,310 174.5 173.8 0.7
  Tonnes 2,127.3 4,832.6 35,660.5 919.8 328.5 43,868.7 16.9 kg 17.1 kg  
Fraser Valley Units
(000)
29,282 29,192 11,441 5,296 563 75,774 249.5 247.3 2.2
  Tonnes 415.8 831.9 4,004.9 137.0 50.0 5,439.6 17.9 kg 17.5 kg  
Powell River Units
(000)
1,899 1,534 925 228 44 4,630 231.3 224.6 6.7
  Tonnes 27.0 45.8 344.2 7.0 6.5 430.5 21.5 kg 20.5 kg  
Squamish - Lillooet Units
(000)
3,696 4,133 4,421 586 77 12,913 298.4 323.5 (25.1)
  Tonnes 52.5 118.0 1,564.6 16.8 6.8 1,758.7 40.6 kg 44.8 kg  
Sunshine Coast Units
(000)
2,500 2,071 2,153 397 59 7,180 244.3 237.2 7.1
  Tonnes 35.5 62.4 798.6 12.8 9.4 918.7 31.3 kg 30.7 kg  
Central Okanagan Units
(000)
17,217 20,605 11,245 2,778 338 52,183 262.1 249.4 12.7
  Tonnes 244.5 573.1 4,184.5 78.2 39.6 5,119.9 25.7 kg 25.2 kg  
North Okanagan Units
(000)
9,186 10,389 4,621 1,383 146 25,725 297.6 285.4 12.2
  Tonnes 130.4 293.4 1,700.9 40.2 18.5 2,183.4 25.3 kg 24.8 kg  
Okanagan - Similkameen Units
(000)
8,850 9,727 5,540 1,131 174 25,422 291.7 298.7 (7.0)
  Tonnes 125.7 274.8 2,088.8 33.8 25.5 2,548.6 29.2 kg 30.7 kg  
Columbia Shuswap Units
(000)
5,560 6,022 3,215 797 96 15,690 295.9 291.6 4.3
  Tonnes 78.9 167.4 1,133.0 22.6 12.6 1,414.5 26.7 kg 26.9 kg  
Thompson - Nicola Units
(000)
14,486 15,786 6,543 2,239 233 39,287 283.8 276.1 7.7
  Tonnes 205.7 437.5 2,292.3 58.9 27.3 3,021.7 21.8 kg 21.5 kg  
Central Kootenay Units
(000)
5,071 4,011 2,911 702 106 12,801 210.5 201.6 8.9
  Tonnes 72.0 118.3 1,024.3 20.1 13.1 1,247.8 20.5 kg 20.7 kg  
East Kootenay Units
(000)
6,063 6,387 2,896 792 77 16,215 278.8 266.8 12.0
  Tonnes 86.1 178.1 1,056.0 22.7 9.3 1,352.2 23.3 kg 22.9 kg  
Kootenay Boundary Units
(000)
2,757 2,434 1,077 400 48 6,716 229.9 218.4 11.5
  Tonnes 39.2 70.2 395.4 11.2 6.0 522.0 17.9 kg 17.4 kg  
Total Units Units
(000)
362,647 380,290 207,710 64,472 8,187 1,023,306 212.4 210.6 1.8
Total kg Tonnes 5,149.6 10,887.8 75,199.8 1,813.2 776.6 93,827.0 19.5 kg 19.6 kg  

Note: Calculations may show slight variances due to rounding.