A cat may have nine lives, but a can of soda has the potential to experience an infinite number of reincarnations. How? Normand Bisson, CEO of Consignaction, the non-profit organization in charge of Quebec’s deposit-refund recycling system, explains that high-quality materials, like glass and aluminum, can be reused indefinitely. “Aluminum has been recycled in new cans for tens of years, and it takes about 60 days from the moment you bring back a container to the time its back on the shelf in the retail stores,” he tells CTV News. READ MORE: Each can returned to be recycled reduces the need to source fresh materials from the Earth’s crust, Bisson explains - though he laments that the same cannot be said for plastic and cardboard. “But then it will be reused for other products, so it’s not lost,” he said. “We’re still avoiding extracting raw materials at the end of life.” Consignaction is managed by the Quebec Beverage Container Recycling Association (QBCRA) as part of Quebec’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws. Nowadays, most eligible containers qualify for a 10-cent refund, while some can retrieve as much as 25 cents, paid out either monetarily or via Interac e-transfer. Bisson says that 100 per cent of the cans and bottles returned to Consignaction’s return sites are immediately sorted and sent to be recycled. He adds that, overall, Quebecers are considered to be good recyclers. So far this year, Consignaction says it has recorded an 80 per cent recycling rate, compared to 72 per cent last year and 68 per cent two years ago. Bisson notes that the goal is to get to a 90 per cent return rate. He points out that Quebec’s recycling model is unique, and has already attracted the attention of dignitaries from around the world. “We have, very often, people coming from the U.S., from Europe, from even South America, Australia,” he said. “People come to see what we do here because we really have a system that is very advanced compared to most of the other systems in the world.” Consignaction says it has plans to further expand its return program to include many more types of containers, like wine and spirit bottles, as well as cartons of milk and juice, in March 2027. To find the nearest return site to you, click here. For a complete list of eligible returnable beverage containers and how much you could get back, click here.
