A friend of mine recently told me that she recycles her 4 litre milk jugs at the Spruce Grove Bottle Depot. Unaware of this new recycling development, I checked online and found that she was right! The dairy beverage container recycling program began in Alberta on June 1, 2009. According to a May 2009 article in the Calgary Sun, this recycling effort is the first of its kind in Canada. Hopefully the rest of Canada will follow Alberta's lead by adopting their own dairy beverage recycling programs in the near future.

    The 'swish n' squish' program is currently unique to Alberta. So, if you have dairy containers from other provinces, they will not be accepted by Alberta bottle depots. There is currently a 10 cent recycling fee on dairy containers under 1 litre and a 25 cent recycling fee on dairy containers over 1 litre. Also, be aware that if your containers are too smelly -- usually from not being rinsed out well enough -- they will also not be accepted.

    Jugs, cartons, and single serve dairy containers can be recycled. Products can include milk, chocolate milk, buttermilk, whipped cream, egg nog, and similar products. The Alberta bottle depots will accept rinsed dairy containers which have the lettering AB DEPOSIT on them. I purchase 2 litre milk cartons instead of 4 litre jugs, but noticed the AB DEPOSIT lettering on the top right hand side of the carton. So, instead of rinsing, drying and putting my milk cartons into my blue bags, I am pleased to know that I will get a few extra bucks the next time I visit the Spruce Grove Bottle Depot. And so can you!

    Besides keeping these materials out of Alberta landfills, dairy containers are recycled into many useful products, such as plastic pipe, drainage tiles, plastic detergent bottles, plastic lumber (used for decks, patio furniture, and picnic tables), and flower pots.    

    Albertans, here's a wake up call. Read on. Did you know that there are two billion beverage containers sold each year in Alberta? Currently about 500 million of these containers are not being recycled!