Personal: Recycling at Bottle Depots
Recycling is not just good for the environment, but your local bottle depot can help you make some extra money.
The government requires that many consumer containers be recyclable. Manufacturers and retailers charge a deposit on such containers when you buy the products inside. These deposits are returned when customers return the containers.
Containers that are recyclable are:
- Aluminium beverage cans (beer & pop)
- Glass bottles (refillable or not)
- Plastic bottles (except milk jugs)
- Foil-sealed plastic cups for various juices
- Baby juice bottles (from Gerber, Heinz, etc)
- Bag in a box containers (for wine, juice, and water-keep the bag IN the box)
- Tetrapaks (the paper containers with foil inside lining will be recyclable beginning this fall)
Bottle depots do not accept any milk containers (yet), beverage boxes, or products bought outside the province for deposit returns.
Beer bottles can be accepted by different bottle depots depending on their brand and origin. Imported beers (from outside the province) are accepted by all bottle depots. Not all bottle depots accept all micro-brewery bottles (like Big Rock and Drummond).
Nova Scotia's beverage bottle recycling is managed by the non-profit Resource Recovery Fund Board (RRFB). There are 90 plus privately-owned Enviro Depots which refund bottle deposits without discounting and take back all beverage containers. These depots also accept newsprint, old corrugated cardboard, and used tires from non-commercial sources.
Because not all deposits are paid back, there is a profit by RRFB, and half of net revenues are distributed to municipalities for their recycling efforts, the other half is distributed to the seven provincial regions for approved recycling programs such as composting, and education and awareness campaigns. Curbside waste programs including "blue box" programs frequently pick up deposit-bearing containers without refunding 5 cents, and thus receive some funding from the RRFB.
Non-Beer Beverages
Under Nova Scotia's half-back system, deposits are paid on all containers but deposits are fully refunded on refillable containers, only half refunded for non-refillable containers.
All non-refillable ready-to-serve beverage containers, including wine and spirits, beer cans, water, juices, etc. except for milk and milk substitutes.
Container | Deposit Paid | Deposit Refunded |
Liquor or non-liquor beverage container |
10 cents |
5 cents |
liquor > 500ml |
20 cents |
10 cents |
BEER SYSTEM
Beer and liquor are sold exclusively in the Liquor Commission liquor stores, which collect deposits from consumer. Beer containers are returned either to the liquor stores or through the Enviro Depots. Like New Brunswick, there are a number of bottle dealers in place who run Enviro Depots and pick up beer bottles from other depot operators. Incidentally, the half of the Enviro Depots which are licensed Brewers'bottle dealers receive a handling fee for whole trailer-load of empties. Beer cans flow to Encorp for recycling and the Brewers never re-sue them again.
Sales by Container Type: 78% Bottles, 12% Cans, 10% Draught
Deposit Paid: $1.20 per dozen.
Deposit Refunded: $1.20 per dozen.
Beaver Enviro-depot
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PO BOX 20337 Rpo Spryfield, Halifax, NS B3R 2L2
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(902) 479-2929
(902) 479-3900 (fax)
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Redmond Recycling & Recovery
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PO BOX 20337 Rpo Spryfield, Halifax, NS B3R 2L2
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(902) 454-3727
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Tanner's Transfer Enviro Depot
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6393 Bayne Street, Halifax, NS B3K 2V6
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(902) 454-4888
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You can get more information about recycling in Nova Scotia from the Beverage Container Recycling Program
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