« Case in point | Main | Free advice »
September 14, 2006
Stolichnaya Syndrome
Ontarians will by now have heard of their Liberal government's plan to have the LCBO charge a deposit on every bottle it sells, but not take those bottles back. Customers will have to return them to The Beer Store, ostensibly because its recycling program is so effective — according to its latest environmental report, it recovered 98 percent of "industry standard bottles" sold system-wide (i.e., including at the LCBO), and 66 percent of cans.
I have to say, offering cash for empty bottles never struck me as a particularly challenging business model. For every Torontonian unwilling to have small change hurled at him by a Beer Store employee for whom every waking second is a crushing imposition, there are at least two industrious gents panning the city for 10-cent nuggets.
In fact, The Beer Store isn't so special. 2002 statistics compiled by Washington's Container Recycling Institute showed that Quebec's supermarket- and dépanneur-based returns system recovered around 98 percent of bottles — better, in fact, than Ontario. No province recovered less than 91 percent of refillable beer bottles, while three fared considerably better than Ontario in the cans department.
I am loath to take a union’s word on anything, but I think OPSEU has this one about right:
"If McGuinty's plan is such a great idea, why was there no public consultation? Why did the big brains in the Premier's office decide to announce it on a Sunday morning before Sept. 11?" [Union President Leah] Casselman asked.
"Obviously the Liberals are trying to get credit on environmental issues while avoiding any public scrutiny of the serious thinking errors involved in what they're actually doing."
She also raises a couple of practical posers:
…"A lot of people who shop at the LCBO never go near The Beer Store, which can only make the deposit/return system less effective," Casselman said.
…
"That's bad enough, but a much more serious problem is that giving control of empties to The Beer Store will actively prevent the re-use of containers.
"The only way to create a system that encourages re-use is through close co-operation between the retailer — the LCBO — and the wineries and
distilleries," Casselman said.
…
"The LCBO is an alcohol super-power," she said. "It has not only the obligation but also the ability to be a global leader in environmentally-friendly packaging. In contrast, The Beer Store has no connection whatsoever to wineries and distilleries."
And what does our Premier have to say to all these impertinent questions? "Shut up and drink," basically:
"The single most important thing that Ontarians need to know is that we have come kicking and screaming out of the dark ages when it comes to LCBO containers," he said.
"It's the concept here that's really important to Ontarians."
Anyone casually acquainted with the state of "competition" between the LCBO and The Beer Store knows there's far more to this. The LCBO and the government are facing pressure to recycle, but would rather not set up another system. The Beer Store, for its part, hates that the LCBO sells so much beer. The proposal (which the Toronto Star, apparently in earnest, called a "public-private partnership") helps all parties: "Insiders" told the Star that "The Beer Store expects more visits from customers who are likely to buy more beer and coolers when they return LCBO empties."
They hope Ontarians will drink more, in other words, and in a competitive retail economy that would make perfect sense. In Ontario, however, where the LCBO is charged both with selling alcohol and with discouraging its consumption, it's problematic. Which is more important: recycling or alcohol abuse? What about air pollution? The proposal would certainly increase the number of people driving (sober, one hopes) to The Beer Store with cars full of empty bottles. And while convenience is obviously not a core LCBO value, they might spare a thought for the elderly, people who don't drive, and all those not so blessed as to live near a Beer Store outlet. Oh, but I keep forgetting: it's the concept that’s important to them.
To be fair, this isn't totally out of the blue. I buy lots of beer at the LCBO and return it at the Beer Store, and my brain hasn't yet melted. But the LCBO currently charges a deposit only on products you can also buy, and thus can return, at The Beer Store. This is consumer choice, however meager. I am free to purchase certain beers from not one but two government-approved organizations.
By extending the deposit to products that are only available at its stores and then refusing to take them back, the LCBO is officially enshrining into Ontario society something my grandfather used to lament about modern life: "Nothing ever takes one trip anymore." Think about it: Responsibly consuming a bottle of wine in Ontario will now involve visiting a third party that sells nothing but beer. This is not the end of the world, of course, but it doesn’t make any friggin' sense whatsoever. Having lived under this bizarre, needlessly anachronistic alcohol regime for so long, I wonder if Ontarians will even notice.
Posted by Chris Selley at September 14, 2006 10:30 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.tartcider.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/505
Comments
Okay, having read more than I care to about Toronto and it's intractable garbage disposal problem, and Ontario's ludicrous bottle recycling attitude, as a happy Albertan and BC'er I have got to say that if I get one more sanctimonious lecture in The T-Star about climate control, I'll reach through my computer screen and strangle the nearest Toronto city councillor. When I'm in Alberta I can by a bottle of booze about every ten city blocks from whomever has the energy to start up a store, if I somehow miss one of the bazillion liqour stores, any number of them are a mere phone call away for delivery. When done my drink, I can either wait until I have enough empties to justify going to a bottle depot which in the AB town I live in part time is run as a non-profit facility giving jobs to the disabled. Should I decide the trip is not worth it, I donate the empties to whatever kids sports teams is holding a bottle drive fundraiser and let them go to the minor annoyance of sorting all the sizes out for me.
In BC I am stuck with a provincial liqour store, or any number of cold beer and wine stores that now wonder of wonders also stock hard liquor. In BC the bottle depots are generally for profit (they receive some sort of processing fee from the gov) and are hyper efficient.
In both provinces most grocery stores will accept and refund empties in small quantities if you feel like returning your bottles, and juice containers on a weekly basis.
When I think of the tons of bottles and tetra pak juice boxes filling all of those polluting trucks travelling to Michigan each day, and filling up the landfills thoughout the rest of the province it just leaves me incredulous.
For pity's sake, cough up the damn nickle or dime per container, give a bit of that to a company willing to recycle and redirect the containers for reuse and get on with your lives. This is not rocket science, not even nuclear science, which in Ontario seems to have a water tortured life of its own too.
Posted by: Bobbi at September 15, 2006 01:17 AM
My problem with having to return them to The Beer Store is that it is virtually impossible for me to get to a Beer Store since I don't own a car. There is an LCBO very close to me and it would be much more convenient to have to return them to that location. When I buy beer I only ever buy it at the LCBO because the distance to the Beer Store is too far.
I don't really see the benefit of taking a cab to the Beer Store as the cost of the cab ride would cost more than the money I'd get from any returns.
I like the idea of the deposit and return for refund, however, I think that they should return be able to return the bottles to the LCBO. Or at the very least, allow the set up of private bottling return facilities.
Posted by: Bailey at September 15, 2006 09:26 AM
Well, at least Ontarians still have a choice: if you don't want to deal with the hassle of going to the Beer Store with your LCBO refundables, just chuck them in the blue or grey bin of your choosing. If the nickels and dimes mean so that much to you, as they do to me, then the hassle is worth it.
Posted by: Mark at September 19, 2006 12:14 PM