New Beer Store Initiative

[Cass]

Oh, you thought it was about beer? Think again.

Media Advisory
Attn: News, Environment, Lifestyle and Consumer Editors and Reporters

Minister of the Environment to join The Beer Store in launching Recycling Plus facility in Toronto

Pilot launched in cooperation with Stewardship Ontario and Sims Recycling Solutions will also accept paint, batteries and household electronics

What:
Recycling Plus, an initiative by The Beer Store, is a stand-alone returns facility that aims to make it easier for consumers returning beer, wine, spirit and cooler empties. Working with two key partners (Stewardship Ontario and Sims Recycling Solutions), the facility will also accept paint, batteries and household electronics. This pilot project is the first of its kind in Ontario and will test the viability of establishing additional outlets across the province. The launch will be attended by The Beer Store officials, the Minister of the Environment, cooperating partners and municipal representatives.

Who:
Jim Bradley, Ontario's Minister of the Environment
Ted Moroz, President, The Beer Store
Lyle Clarke, Executive Vice-President, Stewardship Ontario
Cindy Coutts, President, Sims Recycling Solutions Canada
Franz Hartmann, Toronto Environmental Alliance

When:
Friday, February 15th, 2013 at 10:00 a.m.

Where:
Recycling Plus by The Beer Store
299 Campbell Avenue
(Facing Dupont St., one block west of Lansdowne Ave.)
Toronto, ON M6P 3V6

For further details, please contact:
Don Huff, Environmental Communication Options, 416-972-7404, 416-805-7720 (on-site)
or huffd@ecostrategy.ca

[Weebay]

Cass, 10/10 - Would get trolled by again.

[liamt07]

The "Beer" Store.

[midlife crisis]

Desperate attempt by TBS to remain relevant. Or is it the first step in a move to take recycling out of their stores (which they must hate) and move it to dedicated facilities?

[Kel Varnsen]

Desperate attempt by TBS to remain relevant. Or is it the first step in a move to take recycling out of their stores (which they must hate) and move it to dedicated facilities?

I wonder if they do hate it though. I mean it cuts out any kind of recycling middle man and means the beer store owners have a steady supply of aluminum cans and industry standard bottles to fill with bud light. I was reading an article a on the weekend about craft brewers using cans, and how using a recycled aluminium can uses about 5% of the energy compared to producing a brand new aluminum can. So if the beer store owners can have a stead supply of aluminium that is huge for them.

Plus every beer store I go to has the returns area at the front right by the door, which leads to the store having that gross rotten beer smell. For most places you would think that would be bad, but for the beer store it probably helps them since for most people walking into a stinky store are they going to browse, or are they going to quickly grab a 24 of something from the 10 ten and leave?

[Rob Creighton]

Desperate attempt by TBS to remain relevant?

More than that. Guaranteeing their integration into the Ontario government. TBS becomes a functional/sanctioned arm of the government. Next come the awards for their efforts. Its all sooooo predictable!

[midlife crisis]

That's a depressing but very likely scenario, yes. I fear the Liberals have no appetite whatsoever for getting rid of TBS, and there is only a glimmer of hope if we boot them out.

[Tapsucker]

Garbage out, garbage in?

[saints_gambit]

Comparatively clever long term move. The pilot project allows them to separate the recycling facilities from The Beer Store, which would be one of the main obstacles the province faces in dealing with privatization of sales.

That is to say, if there's only one place you can recycle beer bottles, it makes sense to only be able to buy them in one place. If recycling beer bottles is going to require separate facilities, you have to assume this is a preparatory move towards allowing privatization.

It removes an obstacle from the equation while leaving it under The Beer Store's purview. Clever.

[Tapsucker]

I guess this is what they do with the waste they collect.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/02 ... fluid.html

[icemachine]

I wonder if they do hate it though. I mean it cuts out any kind of recycling middle man and means the beer store owners have a steady supply of aluminum cans and industry standard bottles to fill with bud light. I was reading an article a on the weekend about craft brewers using cans, and how using a recycled aluminium can uses about 5% of the energy compared to producing a brand new aluminum can. So if the beer store owners can have a stead supply of aluminium that is huge for them.

The cans get crushed and baled, and get melted down before becoming new cans, the energy savings comes from not having to smelt alumina from bauxite

[Belgian]

^ AND recycled aluminum is identical to virgin, unlike other packing materials!
[/green geekout]

I have always been willing to support independent 'recycle and return' depots, not least because TBS does not handle it very cleanly or professionally and there can be some snarky attitude to deal with.

I mean, how many ways do I need to be reminded of our stupid Ontario system(s).

[Rob Creighton]

With silica as the number two element and aluminum as the number three, the foundational elements of the earths crust are a good reason to look at what we drink out of. I really don't have a bias in that I drink from both and understand the pro's and con's. Seeing passionate condemnation of any of them tends to prove the notion that we can be irrational at the best of times.

The 2 liter PET growler holds a lot of promise. Within a couple of years, I expect to see a number of really attractive (sexy) packages in craft.

The PET keg is the only package I have seen in a lot of years that makes complete sense. If you are a true environmentalist, you would banish the returnable keg asap and make massive improvements in both energy management (particularly refrigeration in bars where NA ranks the lowest and brewery quality control). Eventually this will be a government mandate but whether the material is PET or not, only evolution will tell.

Like everything, evolution takes time but it is embarrassing to see that the most priveledged are also the most ignorant and arrogant (I know...nice spelling)

[Kel Varnsen]

I have always been willing to support independent 'recycle and return' depots, not least because TBS does not handle it very cleanly or professionally and there can be some snarky attitude to deal with.

Speaking of the bottle return system, does anyone know exactly how it works with respect to the empties and the money?

I mean say I buy a can Muskoka Cream Ale at the LCBO. I pay a 10 cent deposit right. I assume that 10 cents goes into a fund so that I can get my money back when I return the can to the beer store. But what happens to the 10 cents if I don't return the can? Who keeps the money? And while that 10 cents is sitting in the bank who collects the interest on it?

And what about the can itself. The beer store collects it any pays me 10 cents for it. But beyond the 10 cents there is still value to the can itself. Does the beer store send it back to Muskoka, or as part of handling empty returns do they now own the can, and can sell it themselves for scrap/recycling?

[jp_jkl]

The Recycling Plus location at Campbell and Dupont is closing on April 12.

I'm not exactly sure why, but I guess this was a pilot project and there's always been a development proposal sign on the property.

I live within walking distance and will miss this place. It was well run and there was never a line up to return empties or drop off whatever random things I needed recycled. Plus it meant I never had to step foot in the regular Beer Store across the street, which smells like a homeless man drenched in skunky beer.

I'll always remember the time a craft beer loving employee there called me out on returning bottles I didn't buy in Ontario. I had a bunch of Founders, Bells and Dark Horse empties I had originally purchased in Michigan and they refused to give me the deposit money. I returned bottles/cans purchased out of province there all the time and they only noticed once. I never thought it was a big deal, but I guess it is technically cheating the system.