Recycling Tips & Facts

According to Environment Canada, Alberta kept over 2 billion beverage containers out of landfills in 2013, recycling them instead. That means we saved more than 700 kilowatts of energy, and much more refuse stayed out of Canada’s nearly full landfills. The Beverage Container Management Board (BCMB) reports that we recycled more than 12,400 tonnes of aluminum cans in 2012.

Our Summerside Recycling Operation Meets Industry Standards

We’re members of the Beverage Container Management Board responsible for our permit and report directly to the Environment Minister. BCMB inspects and audits Alberta and Edmonton bottle depots to see that they meet these standards:

Proper refunds made to customers
Proper amounts of recycled containers shipped to processors
Facility and operations have met recycling industry requirements

Find the Cash in Your Trash!

Recycling water bottles and aluminum cans is a great way to make some money. Get tips from the Alberta Bottle Depot Association (ABDA) and then let us help make your bottle drive the biggest success it can be.

How Much Money Can You Make?

Visit the BCMB’s home page to find out how much you can collect per aluminum can, brown bottle, water bottle, larger bottle or plastic milk container.

Faster and More Efficient Recycling

We appreciate you taking the time to recycle. To make your efforts more efficient and less time consuming, we offer some tips from the ABDA. Before you visit our Summerside bottle depot, you can:

Sort your containers by size for faster refund calculations
Sort by material: plastic, aluminum and glass
Rinse your containers
Sort out plastic rings and carton boxes
Bring the cardboard boxes for refillable brown beer bottles

Donate your refund instead of waiting to cash in your deposit. We ensure your refund goes to a community charity, such as Alberta Cans 4 Kids.

What Beverage Containers can be Refunded?

The only beverage containers refundable in Alberta are containers that have been purchased in Alberta. It can be difficult to tell if a container has been purchased in Alberta or elsewhere, but there are a few signs to look for. If a container is registered for sale in Alberta, it will typically have English and French on the container, and the size will be indicated in mL volume only.

Just because a container says “return for a refund where applicable” doesn’t automatically mean it is registered. As well, a UPC (barcode) is not always a must. Some containers that are registered in Alberta don’t have a UPC (barcode) but are still able to be recycled.

Fun Facts from ABDA

Plastic takes 400 years, aluminum 500 years and glass 1 million years to break down in a landfill.
Glass containers take 8-12 weeks to be recycled.
1 beer bottle is refilled an average of 15 times.
Well-run recycling programs cost less than waste collection, landfilling and incineration.
Recycled PET plastic bottles can make jackets, fleece jackets, T-shirts or carpet.
5 PET bottles can make fabric for one XL T-shirt or fill a ski jacket with insulation.
Recycling 1 aluminum can saves enough energy to power a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours or a TV for 3 hours.
Aluminum cans can be collected, melted down and made into new cans in as few as 60 days.
Laid end to end, containers recycled in Alberta last year would circle the earth 8 times!
Recycling 1 ton of plastic can save over 7 cubic yards of landfill space.

Useful Links

Summerside Bottle Depot
2754 Ellwood Drive SW
Edmonton, AB, T6X 0A9
P: 780-991-6837
F: 780-469-4033
info@summersidebd.com

Monday – Saturday: 9 AM – 5:30 PM
Sunday: 10 AM – 5 PM

Servicing South East Edmonton