Quick facts about binning

By Dan Haves

• There are more than 1,500 binners in Vancouver
• Vancouver’s binning community was relatively small until United We Can opened up and became the city’s first bottle depot in 1995.
• In 1995, 18 per cent of B.C. beverage containers that were recycled were recycled via bottle depots. By 2003, that figure had grown to 80 per cent.
• United We Can imposes no limit on the number of items returned (most retailers have a limit of 24).
• United We Can recycles 20 million containers a year.
• Although many binners use shopping carts to collect containers, officially they are not allowed on the streets according to a city bylaw.
• Eight Canadian provinces and eleven US states
  have legislation that requires consumers to pay a deposit on beverage containers.
• In British Columbia, 49 per cent of beverage container deposits are eventually recovered. That’s the second highest rate among provinces with beverage container deposits (Nova Scotia has a rate of 56 per cent).