Recycling oil bottles

[Vilan]

I don't know how this works in other places, but here in BC I have to pay a 10 cent "recycling fee" for every quart of oil I buy. Marked right on the receipt.

I hadn't thought about it much before, but lately I'm wondering what it's for. I thought it's just a way of taxing people who don't recycle their oil, but then I've never gotten any money back when I return used oil. Then I thought it might be like paying deposit on pop/beer cans, but I don't get money back for recycling empty oil bottles either. At least I don't know any recycling place that will pay for them.

So what is this? Any fellow Canucks know if there's a place to return oil bottles for a refund? I know, 10 cents, big deal, but it's MY 10 cents, darn it.

 

[LarryL]

Is the tax because they know you won't recycle and they want their money? I'll bet the money goes someplace else when it's spent.

 

[PandaBear]

At least 10c per quart of oil is better than the 5c per bottle of soda/water we have in california.

Yeah, you suppose to get those $ back when you bring in your bottle for recycle, but they never pay you close to that, more like 5c per dozen.

 

[GoldenRod]

Vilan: Don't feel bad. Every Friday the recycle truck comes to my neighborhood picking up all the recyle materials people put out next to the curb for recyling. We have two recycle bins; one just for newspapers, and the other for plastics, glass and aluminum.

We actually have three trucks that come by: one for regular garbage, one for recycles, and one for yard waste. Yes, they all come on the same day.

We actually have to pay for this recycle service; whether we leave anything at the curb or not. It's part of the monthly city water, street sweeping and garbage bill.

P.S. Yes we're on water meters too.

 

[Hooch]

Yeah, the "eco fee" is just a tax. From what I understand, none of the money goes to pay for recycling. It's the same as with the extra taxes on tires, batteries, etc.

 

[Al]

Many places you can't recycle oil bottles bc of redisue oil inside.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

This is a tax, not a deposit. Thank you for being environmentally conscientious.

 

[NJC]

This has some info on the program:

"Is the Environmental Handling Charge (EHC) another government tax?
No, the EHC is an industry handling charge collected by BCUOMA from its member companies. All the funds collected are dedicated to increasing the collection and processing of oil materials; none of the funds go to government."

http://www.usedoilrecycling.com/html/Q_A_brand.pdf

If this is true, I'm happy to pay for it with levies. I can now take oil containers, filters and used oil for recycling.

 

[Razl]

Al,

That's just what I was going to say. My town's collection center has 2 55-gal drums, one for oil filters and one for oil containers. If you throw Antifreeze, cleaning chemicals, oil bottles, or an other non-food container into general recyling, they pull it out.

At least I thought they recyled the oil bottles in the drums, but I watched them one day. They simple dump it in with the general trash. Too bad.

 

[Vilan]

Goldenrod: We have two kinds of recycle bins along with the normal garbage pickup too. I'm fine with that if it means less trash in landfills, I was just hoping to get paid for it too.

Panda: We do get our full 5 cents per can here. As a kid, collecting pop cans was my major income source for getting candy!

njc: Good article, thanks. I looked at the Encorp website but missed this one. I especially notice the line "Note: This is not a deposit/refund system." So much for that. At least it sounds like the bottles will be recycled properly.

Everyone else: Thanks for the input!