Recycling FAQs
How many beverage containers does ABCRC recycle each year?
ABCRC helps Albertans recycle more than two billion non-refillable beverage containers every year. In 2024 alone, ABCRC collected and recycled 2,143,025,887 beverage containers.
How many different types of beverage containers does ABCRC recycle?
ABCRC recycles more than 150,000 different types of non-refillable beverage containers sold in Alberta.
What is Alberta's return rate for non-refillable beverage containers?
In 2024, Alberta achieved an 83% province-wide return rate for non-refillable beverage containers.
What is the environmental impact of beverage container recycling?
Beverage container recycling helps the environment by keeping useful materials out of landfills and by eliminating the energy demand and emissions associated with manufacturing new products from raw materials.
In 2024, the recycling of Alberta’s non-refillable beverage containers diverted 99,315,330 kg of material away from landfills and into a useful future.
How much does ABCRC spend on recycling beverage containers?
In 2024, ABCRC’s cost to recycle one beverage container was only $0.08 on average.
What is a Container Recycling Fee?
The container recycling fee (CRF) is the amount beverage manufacturers are required to pay to cover the net cost of recovering and processing a used, non-refillable beverage container. CRFs are administered by ABCRC, and are used in their entirety to operate an effective and sustainable collection and recycling system for the benefit of all Albertans.
The CRF amount applied to each beverage purchased in Alberta depends on the material the container is made from and the size of the container. Decisions by manufacturers to pass on the container recycling fee to retailers and by retailers to pass it to consumers are made independently. Some retailers choose to pass the fee on and show it on the receipt, while other retailers include it in the price of the product.
For more information, read the “About Container Recycling Fees (CRFs)” section below or download the CRF Brochure.
How much money does ABCRC get from government taxes?
The beverage container recycling system in Alberta is self-funded, and ABCRC is a private company that is operated under not-for-profit provisions. No funding is received from any level of government.
How many people are employed by ABCRC?
More than 175 Albertans are employed by ABCRC. Additionally, there are dozens of other companies in Alberta, employing hundreds of people, that are directly involved in the collection, transport and processing of used beverage containers.
How does ABCRC help communities recycle?
Each year, ABCRC reaches out to communities through event attendance, education programs, recycling promotions and advertisements. As well, ABCRC provides communities and not-for-profit groups accross Alberta with donated infrastructure, teaching resources, donations and event sponsorships to promote beverage container collection and recycling.
About Container Recycling Fees (CRFs)
Each year, ABCRC’s Board of Directors reviews the cost of beverage container recovery for the previous year. The actual cost of recovery for each type of beverage container (based on the material from which the container is made and size of the container) is compared to the revenue from unredeemed deposits and the sale of processed material; the deficit that results is the basis for the next year’s Container Recycling Fee, or CRF, for that type of beverage container.
Beverage manufacturers are required to pay CRFs to cover the net cost of recovering and processing every used, non-refillable beverage container. They may pass on this fee to the retailers who sell their product; those retailers, in turn, might pass on the fee to consumers when they set their prices. In this case, retailers can either include the CRF in the sale price of a beverage or they can add it to the cost of the beverage afterward (shown separately on sales receipts).
CRFs are administered by ABCRC, updated annually (coming into effect on February 1 each year) and used in their entirety to operate an effective and sustainable collection and recycling system.