Alberta will soon be the first province in the country to accept milk cartons at bottle depots. The new regulation is part of a complete overhaul of Alberta's bottle recycling strategy. The goal under the "Too Good to Waste" program is to increase recycling rates from 75 per cent to 85 per cent or higher. Currently, around two-billion beverage containers are sold in Alberta every year, but only 500-million are recycled.

"The 85 per cent return rate is going to require cooperation and partnerships with all the stakeholders," said Ross Risvold, Chair of the Beverage Container Management Board. "I hope to establish real partnerships where programs to increase return rates are jointly developed with collection agents, the Alberta Bottle Depot Association, and the Beverage Container Management Board."

In order to achieve that goal, Albertans will be charged a deposit on milk containers, and, for the first time in 20 years, deposits will increase. A deposit on all beverage containers, including milk containers, will cost 10 cents for one litre containers, and 25 cents for containers that are more than a litre.

Environment Minister Rob Renner hopes changes to the province's beverage container recycling program will encourage more Albertans to return their empties.

"Every beverage container in this province can be recycled into new and useful products. Picture the plastic milk container in your fridge as a fleece jacket and the glass juice container as the insulation in your home."

The deposit and option to return milk containers to any one of the province's 200 bottle depots comes into effect June 1, 2009. Until then, milk containers will continue to be recycled through community recycling programs. The deposit increases on all containers currently accepted at Alberta bottle depots, including pop, juice, beer, wine and spirit containers come into effect November 1st.

"This is an exemplary opportunity to demonstrate our environmental leadership on the waste front, as we have done many times before," said Environment Parliamentary Assistant Diana McQueen. "With these changes, Alberta will have the most comprehensive beverage container recycling programs in North America, and will be the first to include all milk containers under the deposit system."

For more information on Alberta's Beverage Container Recycling Program, visit bcmb.ab.ca. For more information on Alberta's "Too Good to Waste" strategy visit environment.alberta.ca.