1 Executive Summary

• 

  Aluminum

  84.1%

  81.6%

  82.3%

• 

  Glass

  89.9%

  86.8%

  93.3%

• 

  Plastic ≤ 1L

  78.6%

  70.4%

  74.6%

• 

  Plastic > 1L

  78.3%

  92.6%

  86.3%

• 

  Drink Box

  58.8%

  55.8%

  65.0%

• 

  Bag in Box

  54.2%

  48.8%

  60.0%

• 

  B-metal

  78.6%

  83.8%

  86.0%

• 

  Gable Top

  62.7%

  65.4%

  73.0%

• 

  Pouches

  33.0%

  21.4%

  60.0%

Encorp is committed to reach the overall recovery rate target of 83.6% set in the Stewardship Plan

• 2023 Access Level

  	97.0% Target
  	99.2% Result

  Collection System and Access

  99.2% of BC’s population has access to a beverage container return facility, compared with the 97% target in the Stewardship Plan. Encorp’s collection system and consumer access are measured annually by using GIS mapping of all collection locations and matching the location to the population base and drive time radius. In urban areas, the drive time radius is set at 30 minutes; however, most locations are within a 15-minute drive time. In rural areas, the drive time is set at 45 minutes. See GIS Mapping and Accessibility in Section 4.4.

• Consumer Awareness of Locations

  The Return-It network consists of depot collection facilities that have collection agreements with Encorp as well as corporate Return-It Express Plus™ locations and Express & GO™ unstaffed stations.

  The awareness of locations is measured using the same market research study and methodology that is used for measuring system awareness.

  	2022	2023	Variance
  Depots	163	162	(1)
  Express Plus	2	2	–
  Express & GO	12	16	4
  Total Return-It Network	177	180	3

  2023 Awareness of Locations

  	90.0% Target
  	95.0% Result

• 2023 Program Awareness

  	95.0% Target
  	99.0% Result

  Public Education Materials & Strategies

  Consumer awareness levels of the program are measured through an annual benchmark study conducted by a third-party market researcher. The methodology and sample sizes are representative of the province and statistically accurate to a margin of +/- 5%. The studies track changes over time and provide valuable information and consumer trends.

  In addition to the benchmark study, Encorp conducts a Segmentation Analysis to better understand consumer behaviour and identify target audiences particularly around throw-away behaviour of each target group. See Research and Segmentation Analysis in Section 3.1.

• Product Environmental Impact

  Encorp’s activities in 2023 contributed to the reduction of 125.2 thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) being released into the atmosphere, compared with 123.5 thousand tonnes in 2022. See Environmental Report in Section 5.

  Containers collected by Encorp in 2023 were shipped to recyclers for further processing into new products in accordance with Section 8 of the Recycling Regulation. See End Fate information in Section 5.2

  Plan Target: An overall 6% reduction in GHG emissions from 2019 baseline

  	2022	2023
  Metric weight of materials diverted from landfill	90,257	90,283
  Energy savings by material type	82.53%	85.0%
  GHG emissions and MT-CO2 eq avoided	123.5	125.2
  GHG reduction target performance against the 2019 baseline	(25.03%)	(33%)

• Management of Program Costs

  Encorp has continued its commitment to circularity by managing the sale and recovery of beverage containers across British Columbia. In 2023, Encorp prevented 1.375 billion containers from ending up in landfills, representing a 79.6% overall recovery rate. The provincial per capita recovery rate averages 249.2 units per person. These figures highlight not only the scale of operations but also the collective effort of British Columbians in contributing to a more sustainable future. See Deposits, Refunds and Recovery Rates in Section 6.

  In British Columbia a deposit is paid on every beverage container sold in the province. In 2023, Encorp issued $137,516,157 in deposit refunds. Unclaimed deposits are used to help fund the system. When the revenue from unclaimed deposits and from the sales of collected material are insufficient to cover the cost of recovering and recycling a specific container type, a non-refundable container recycling fee is added at the time of sale to make up for the shortfall. Third-party auditors were contracted to audit both the financial and non-financial statements produced by management. See Financial Statements in Section 9.

  Product Sold / Collected and Recovery Rate

  Total Sales in Units	1,726,702,889
  Total Product Collected in Units	1,375,161,566
  Recovery Rate	79.6%
  Provincial Per Capita Recovery	249.2

  Summary of Deposits, Refunds, Revenues and Expenses

  Deposits Collected	$172,670,289
  Refunds Issued	$137,516,157
  Total Revenue	$249,080,000
  Total Expenses	$261,871,938