Kevin Aylward, Minister of Environment and Labour, met recently with officials from NewBRI and Nova Recycling, and spoke with Joe Offrey, a depot operator in Port aux Choix, to discuss progress on the delivery of the deposit-refund beverage container system in rural Newfoundland. The minister said that he is satisfied with the information he received from these companies.

Mr. Aylward said: "The system has only been in place for about two weeks and already we have collected approximately three million beverage containers. Once depot operators are able to secure arrangements to collect in rural areas, we expect this number to rise dramatically."

The minister said he expects some growing pains initially, but he is pleased with plans to service rural areas throughout the province. "Over the coming weeks," Mr. Aylward said: "depot operators throughout the province will be making arrangements to collect beverage containers in a variety of ways such as establishing satellite depots, mobile depots, and arrangements with retailers and community groups." Because depot operators are paid on the basis of what they collect, it is expected that they will establish a means to collect as many containers as possible.

Following up on recent complaints in the media by people living in communities along the Northern Peninsula, the minister said: "I spoke with Mr. Offrey about his plans for collecting in surrounding areas and I was quite pleased with his response. Mr. Offrey is proceeding to make arrangements to service various communities and we remain supportive of his efforts. I hope people will remain patient as we continue to implement this program. I think people understand what an enormous task it is to establish a province-wide collecting system for beverage containers." The minister also said that, in general, public response to this program has been very positive.

Contact: Sean Kelly, Director of Communications, (709) 729-2575.