2019-03-27|Beer and Soft Drinks Distributors' Permits Regulation

To whom it may concern

• Québec has a deposit on aluminum, glass and plastic soft drink and beer cans. Although Campbell Soup's V8 is in an aluminum can which says "REFUND WHERE APPLICABLE", the deposit return machine rejects the can. So, I printed out and affixed a UPC (Universal Product Code) from Diet Pepsi and Diet Coke, both of which were accepted. I also found that Pepsi uses UPC-A (12 digits), while Coke uses UPC-E (8 digits). Such a profitable scheme could be illegal and also contaminates the recycling process, but it was an interesting engineering exercise to expose a loophole.

  

• From technical point of view, any aluminum cans are "recyclable", including V8, labeled or not. Aluminum takes a lot of energy to refine from the rocks, but once it is in the metal form, it takes very little energy to re-melt and re-manufacture. Glass bottles requires washing to be used again, and have a higher transportation cost because of heavy weight.

• Deposit depends of the jurisdiction. V8 can says "CA CRV, HI ME 5¢ OR 10¢", meaning "California Redemption Value (5 cents for containers less than 24 US fluid ounces (710 ml) and 10 cents for containers 24 US fluid ounces (710 ml) or larger)", a refund of 5 cents in Hawaii and Maine, and a refund of 10 cents in Oregon.

• "QC" is not mentioned because the Québec Deposit Law (AGREEMENT RELATING TO THE CONSIGNMENT, RECOVERY AND RECYCLING OF NON-REFILLABLE SOFT DRINK CONTAINERS) explicitly says "non-refillable beer and soft drinks containers", which exclude V8 because vegetable juice is not a soft drink.

• Here is an excerpt from Beer and Soft Drinks Distributors' Permits Regulation.

  Règlement sur les permis de distribution de bière et de boissons gazeuses
  1° les contenants à remplissage unique utilisés pour la vente ou la livraison de bière ou de boissons gazeuses sont des contenants recyclables;

• Thank you very much for your attention.

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"Sunatori, Go Simon" <GS.Sunatori@HyperInfo.CA>

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• 2025-10-15T16:58:43.000Z