January 25, 1999

To:Works and Utilities Committee

From:Commissioner

Works & Emergency Services

Subject:Liquor and Wine Containers

Purpose:

To respond to requests from Works and Utilities Committee for further information on a proposal submitted by the Toronto Environmental Alliance and other issues concerning wine and liquor containers and promotion of a deposit/return system.

Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

There are no financial implications arising from this report.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that this report be received for information.

Council Reference/Background/History:

At its meeting of January 13, 1999, the Works and Utilities Committee adopted the recommendation embodied in the submission from the Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) which stated "that the Works and Utilities Committee direct the Works and Emergency Services Department to meet with the Toronto Environmental Alliance, Canadian Bottle Recycling Inc., and R/WORKS to investigate the possibility of a permanent bottle collection program", and requested the Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services to submit a report thereon to the next meeting of the Committee. Works and Utilities Committee further requested a report for the next meeting on:

"(i)all the costs incurred by the City of Toronto when handling wine and liquor bottles sold by the LCBO;

(ii)the feasibility of allocating a portion of the funds set aside for deposit/return publicity to support the initiatives being recommended by the Toronto Environmental Alliance; and

(iii)the advertising budget that would be required to bring the issue of deposit/return to the public's attention."

Comments and/or Discussion and/or Justification:

TEA Proposal

On January 25, 1999, staff from this Department met with TEA, Canadian Bottle Recycling Inc., and R/WORKS to discuss their proposal for a permanent refillable wine bottle collection program. At the meeting, TEA described the wine bottle drive that they co-ordinated in Toronto during the last three weeks of December, 1998. Temporary depots were set up at Toronto ambulance stations, former City Halls, and several restaurants. Approximately 50,000 wine bottles were collected during the drive, although final determination on the number of bottles actually reused is not yet available. As a result of the success of the December bottle drive, TEA feels that a permanent wine bottle collection program is feasible.

The proposal by TEA would involve setting up permanent depots for the collection of wine bottles. Residents would have the choice of taking their wine bottles to a depot for reuse or putting the bottles in their blue box for recycling.

TEA's project partners are R/WORKS and Canadian Bottle Recycling Inc. (CBR). R/WORKS, a community economic development group, would collect and deliver the wine bottles to CBR. CBR would pay R/WORKS $0.05 for each bottle, then clean the bottles and sell them to wineries for refilling. The $0.05 per bottle revenue would be retained by R/WORKS to cover the costs of operating the depot program. TEA would like Toronto to promote the program, provide technical assistance to facilitate implementation, provide some depot locations, and ideally provide wage support to R/WORKS since they utilize hard to employ people such as psychiatric survivors, homeless people and recent immigrants.

TEA's proposal is in the preliminary stage and it was agreed at the meeting that further investigation is required before a concrete, well-defined proposal can be put before your Committee for consideration. Depot locations need to be researched and thought must be given to the number of depots required to make the project viable. An operating plan is required to ensure that R/WORKS can service the depots on a regular basis. Further financial analysis is required to ensure the program is sustainable, in other words whether R/WORKS can cover its operating costs with revenue of $0.05 per bottle. Possible wage support programs for R/WORKS, at the Municipal, Provincial and Federal levels of government, need to be researched in an attempt to support a start up of the program. Promotion opportunities need further investigation as well as research into anticipated year-round resident-support.

Departmental staff will continue to work with the project proponents on the above issues and report back to your Committee.

Feasibility of Allocating Deposit/Return Publicity Funds to Support the TEA Proposal

Approximately $184,000.00 was allocated to publicize and promote deposit/return for wine and liquor containers, including $60,000.00 for advertising and $85,000.00 to produce and deliver a door-to-door brochure. The budget was made up of funds that were pulled from the promotions budgets of other programs within Solid Waste Management (e.g. Blue Box, yard waste, grasscycling). As a result of deposit/return for wine and liquor containers being identified as an issue requiring public education after the 1998 budget had been set, funds were never specifically dedicated for this purpose. Therefore, when the expected deposit/return public education did not proceed, the funds earmarked reverted back to their original program areas. With respect to the 1999 Solid Waste Management communications budget, there are no funds that have specifically been allocated for deposit/return. Money would, again, have to be pulled from other program areas to promote a wine bottle depot collection program.

There are, however, a number of promotional activities that could be undertaken to promote wine bottle depots at little or no cost by combining them with existing initiatives. These include articles in Waste Watch (the semi-annual door-to-door newsletter); articles in Councillors' newsletters; mention in other printed information materials; information on the department's web site; presentations made to residents, schools, community groups, etc.; telephone hotlines; and information at displays. There could also be an effective media relations program that would place this issue in front of the public.

Advertising Budget Required to Bring the Issue of Deposit/Return to the Public's Attention

The allocated budget of $184,000.00 to publicize deposit/return for wine and liquor containers was, as previously mentioned, generated by pulling money from other programs. As a result, the amount was considered inadequate to successfully launch a new program direction. In a previous report to Council, we suggested that an additional $300,000.00 would be required.

To effectively educate the public about a new deposit/return system, we would recommend a budget of approximately $700,000.00. The City of Toronto provides a communications challenge because of its diversity. Traditional communication and education tools such as advertising through the media provide a quick way to get a message out to a mass audience. However, this type of communication is best supplemented with a social marketing, or community outreach, approach to educating the public particularly when sustained behavioural change is required.

As a point of comparison, the Corporations Supporting Recycling (CSR) 1997 Don't Trash Cans campaign, which promoted the recycling of aluminum cans, cost $1.2 million which included $600,000.00 just for advertising. In 1995, Metro Toronto expanded the Blue Box program to include the Grey Box and 11 new paper items. The program expansion was supported by a $325,000.00 advertising campaign. A further $612,000.00 was spent in 1996 for an extensive public education program involving the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), which included reinforcing the message of the Grey Box and the new paper materials.

In a 1996 research report prepared by Resource Integration Systems Ltd. for Metro Toronto, it is noted that Seattle, Washington spends US$3.75 per household per year on continuing public education for recycling. When a new program is launched, Seattle increases its budget by an extra US$1.40 - 2.80 per household per year. Based on this formula, Toronto would need at least $1.5 million for the launch of a new program such as deposit/return.

In light of the aforementioned, we believe a budget of $700,000.00 would be the minimum required to introduce a deposit/return system for wine and liquor containers to the citizens of Toronto.

Cost of Handling Wine and Liquor Bottles

The incremental cost to Toronto to recycle and dispose of all wine and liquor bottles is approximately $1,170,000.00 annually. The incremental cost is equivalent to the savings that Toronto would realize if all liquor and wine bottles were removed from both the recycling and garbage systems. The amount of $1,170,000.00 is comprised of $880,000.00 in recycling costs and $290,000.00 in garbage collection and disposal costs related to wine and liquor containers. The previously reported estimate of a $1.0 million saving due to implementation of a deposit/return system was based on an 85% return rate for liquor and wine containers, leaving 15 percent to be managed in the municipal system.

Conclusions:

The proposal by TEA, R/WORKS and Canadian Bottle Recyclers for a refillable wine bottle depot collection program has merit, particularly if it can be operated cost-effectively (i.e., costs covered by revenues). Such a program would provide residents the option of having their discarded wine bottles re-used instead if recycled, which is higher in the 3Rs hierarchy, and would provide jobs for hard-to-employ people such as psychiatric survivors, homeless people and recent immigrants. However, the proposal is in the preliminary stages and requires further investigation to determine whether such a program is sustainable. We will continue working with the project proponents and report back to your Committee.

Contact Name:

Tim MichaelNicole Dufort

Manager - Waste DiversionManager, Communications

Solid Waste Management ServicesSupport Services

Metro HallWorks and Emergency Services

Phone: (416) 392-8506Phone: (416) 392-2963

Fax: (416) 392-4754Fax: (416) 392-2974

E-mail:E-mail:

Tim_Michael@metrodesk.metrotor.on.caNicole_Dufort@metrodesk.metrotor.on.ca

Angelos BacopoulosBarry H. Gutteridge

General ManagerCommissioner

Solid Waste Management DivisionWorks and Emergency Services

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