Albertans hit bottle depots more than other provinces

Albertans returned billions of cans, bottles and other containers last year, pushing the province back into the top spot for returns in Canada.

Albertans are beating out the competition at the bottle depot.

In a Thursday release, the province reported Albertans had recycled their way to the top spot nationally and came in second in North America with more than two billion cans, bottles and other beverage containers returned.

While the national non-refillable container recycling average was 76 per cent, Alberta’s was 85. Runners up included Saskatchewan at 84 per cent and British Columbia at 83 per cent.

“Albertans buy about 2.6 billion containers every year, and they return about 2.2 billion containers every year. So staggering numbers,” said Jerry Roczkowsky, president of the Alberta Bottle Depot Association.

“Congratulations need to go out to Albertans for the great job they’re doing,” he added.

The province said Alberta is also moving up the North American rankings. It rose from ninth in 2016 to fourth in 2018, and came second place in 2022 and 2024.

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Oregon took first place on the continent, but the province said it’s important to note that residents there only return plastic, metal and glass while Albertans recycle a wider variety.

 “Albertans are winners and these results prove it,” said Rebecca Schulz, minister of environment and protected areas.

“My call to Albertans is simple: when you are finished with your cans and bottles, recycle. Put money back in your pocket. And keep helping your fellow Albertans beat the competition.”

There are 219 bottle depots in Alberta that refund more than 150,000 different types of non-refillable beverage containers.

Roczkowsky said beverage container returns keep about 100,000 metric tonnes of material out of landfills.

He said the 400 million containers that went unreturned were worth about $40 million.