Resolutions

Therefore be it resolved that the SUMA lobby the provincial government to have refundable environmental deposits placed on all plastic milk containers.

Response: The ministry recognizes that the return of milk containers for recycling is not as enticing to the public as beverage containers, which have refundable deposit. The ministry has recommended the dairy industry implement a refundable deposit on plastic milk jugs similar to Alberta and Nova Scotia in order to maximize the return of used plastic milk jugs to recycling depots. However, the dairies ides have opposed such a deposit scheme asserting that basic essential foodstuff should not be made more costly and perhaps less accessible through imposition of deposit fee. During the annual general meeting of the UDRS in December 2008, this issue was again raised by the ministry with affected dairies and SARCAN with the hope possible options would be forthcoming for improving the performance of plastic milk jugs recycling program. However, given the reluctance of the dairy industry to impose a deposit fee, the ministry recommends the public continues to use SARCAN and other container collection facilities as interim measure until a comprehensive Multi-Material Recycling Program (MMRP) is introduced in 2010.