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Skip the Bottle Depot Calgary

What to Recycle: Earn cash every time you recycle. You can even skip the bottle depot and still get your refund!

All “ready-to-serve” beverage containers sold in Calgary, Alberta are accepted for a refund of the full deposit amount paid for them at Happy Can Bottle Depot. You can visit us in person or schedule a free pick-up so you can skip the depot.

Recycle & Earn Cash

“Ready-to-serve” means any container with a beverage that can be consumed immediately after opening. This includes over 130,000 varieties of plastic drink bottles and jugs, Tetra containers, aluminum cans, glass bottles and metal cans.

Concentrate or powdered beverage containers are not considered “ready-to-serve” as they must be mixed prior to consumption, and are not eligible for a deposit refund.

Only beverage containers that have been purchased in Alberta are refundable in Alberta. If a container is registered for sale in Alberta it will have both English and French on the container and the size will be indicated in millilitres (mL), not ounces (oz).

Used cans & bottles in a container in a bottle depot in calgary

What is a Deposit?

The deposit on a beverage container is essentially your money. Whenever you purchase a “ready-to-serve” beverage in Alberta, you pay a small deposit for each container to the beverage manufacturer, which they temporarily hold “in trust” until the container is returned for recycling.

The deposit and refund amounts for containers are based on size, and not on the material they are made from.

Typically, containers that are 1 litre or less (aluminum cans, wine bottles, etc) can be refunded for 10 cents each, and containers larger than 1 litre (pop bottles, plastic milk jugs, etc.) are refunded for 25 cents each.

When you bring your containers back to Happy Can Bottle Depot, located at 12-700 33 St NE, we pay you back the full value of the deposit paid in return for your empty containers.

If you choose to use our residential bottle depot pick up services, you can skip the bottle depot and still get the full amount of refund. Some businesses will give reduced refunds or charge a fee for pick up services, but at Happy Can Bottle Depot, we want to make recycling as simple for you as possible. Skip the depot with us, get your full refund and never pay any additional fees.

This deposit system is consistent with Alberta’s waste management strategy, and encourages Albertans to minimize their environmental impact, and take responsibility for resource conservation.

Woman placing used bottles and other trash in dustbins

When you are preparing your cans or bottles to be recycled at Happy Can Bottle Depot, it’s important to follow a few guidelines.

Rinse
As the contents in the bottles and cans may turn rancid while awaiting delivery to our centre, it’s always a good idea to rinse them after use.

Organize
To maximize the amount of items you turn in for recycling, it’s important to have a system that promotes recycling. This could mean anything from having a bag in your kitchen or keeping a special tote in your car to collect cans and bottles.

Make It Routine
The best way to get into the habit of recycling is to mark a date on the calendar for every month or every couple months. This helps you create a habit of helping the planet (and your wallet).

The Three Major Benefits to Bottle Recycling

If all you know about recycling is that you can earn money from your empty beverage containers, that’s great! But, you may not realize that recycling your items has positive long-term benefits for yourself and the world.

Recycling (or reusing) containers helps keep plastics and other materials from landfills that can contaminate groundwater and environments.

Numerous aftermarket products can be created with recycled plastics, glass and aluminum including: carpet, clothing and numerous other products.

Since plastics are made from oil, recycling your plastics helps to lower oil prices and conserves this valuable natural resource.

The instant benefit to you is $.10 to $.25 per container! Skip the depot or visit us in person soon!