B.C. bottle depots to begin accepting milk, plant-based beverage containers

British Columbia residents will soon be able to return their milk and plant-based beverage containers to the bottle depot for a 10-cent deposit refund.

The province says the change will come into effect on Feb. 1 and will help divert the plastic jugs and paper cartons from the landfill.

"Shifting milk containers to the deposit-refund system will capture the millions of additional plastic and fibre-based containers that were otherwise being thrown out, such as those from restaurants, schools and offices that did not have access to the residential recycling system," the Environment Ministry said in a statement Friday.

The 10-cent deposit for each container will be charged at the time of purchase and refunded at any Return-It depot in the province.

Residents are asked to rinse their beverage containers before returning them, rather than putting them in a residential blue box.