Released on April 12, 2017
Environment Minister Scott Moe joined representatives from SARCAN and SaskMilk at the East Regina SARCAN depot today to remind Saskatchewan residents that milk containers are now included in the provincial recycling program.As of April 1, residents can return ‘ready-to-serve’ milk containers to any of SARCAN’s 72 depots to receive a refund of the deposit paid at the point of purchase.
“SARCAN does a great job of running the beverage container recycling program, and through their efforts more than 80 per cent of containers are returned,” Moe said. “We have a great partnership with SARCAN and we are pleased to add milk containers to this important program.”
The new refundable deposits for milk containers are:
- $0.10 for plastic milk containers, paper milk cartons or tetra boxes, between one and 999 ml.
- $0.25 for plastic milk containers, paper milk cartons or tetra boxes, one litre or more.
“We have been very pleased by the positive reaction we’ve received so far from our customers across the province,” SARC and SARCAN Recycling Executive Director Amy McNeil said. “Now Saskatchewan residents have even more options to recycle than ever before, and we are very happy to have SARCAN be part of this opportunity to make sure even more materials are diverted from our Saskatchewan landfills.”
“Saskatchewan dairy farmers are proud stewards of the environment, and support this program that encourages the recycling of dairy containers in all areas of the province,” SaskMilk Chair Melvin Foth said.SARCAN will accept fluid beverage containers including milk, buttermilk, cream, fluid coffee creamers, lactose-free milk products and drinkable yogurt. It will not accept containers from concentrates such as frozen juice mixes, infant formula, meal replacements, non-fluid coffee additives, pre-whipped whipping cream, evaporated milk or condensed milk. SARCAN will only accept milk containers with best before dates after April 1, 2017.
An environment handling fee of $0.03 for paper and aseptic/tetra cartons, $0.06 for plastic containers, and $0.07 for glass containers will apply to milk containers at the point of purchase. Environmental handling charges cover the environmental cost of collecting, consolidating and recycling milk containers, and are non-refundable.
Residents can begin recycling eligible milk containers immediately at any SARCAN depot.
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For more information, contact:
Darby Semeniuk
Environment
Regina
Phone: 306-787-0143
Email: darby.semeniuk@gov.sk.ca
Sydney Smith
SARCAN
Saskatoon
Phone: 306-933-0616 ext. 236