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CBC
05-08-2025
- CBC
As Beer Stores shut their doors, who will take your empties?
Social Sharing With more and more Beer Stores closing across Ontario, charities and non-profits that rely on bottle collection are hoping to cash in on your empties. The Beer Store currently processes about 1.6 billion empty alcohol containers per year. But it has closed dozens of locations across the province since the arrival of beer in convenience stores, and plans to shutter still more this September. At least five of the actual or planned closures are in Ottawa, including one in the Glebe, where Operation Come Home runs a bottle drive as part of its BottleWorks social enterprise. Executive director John Heckbert hasn't noticed any impact yet — but he's hoping more residents will call on BottleWorks to collect their empties. "We would be very happy to help people if they find that they're accumulating bottles or that they would like somebody to come pick them up," he said. "It's definitely bad news for the people that are affected by the closures," he added. "But it is a positive for our program in the sense that we can provide more employment opportunities and more activity for our youth." Operation Come Home provides housing, employment and eduction programs for homeless youth, who staff the BottleWorks program. They ride around in the truck and collect from practically anywhere in Ottawa, though suburban areas have higher minimums for collection. Residents can fill out a form on the BottleWorks website and schedule a collection date. They can get a tax receipt in return. "We are going to be adding two new trucks to the road in the coming year," Heckbert said. "We're going to expand the capacity of the program and this timing will help us make sure that the trucks are always full." Animal rescues also hopeful BottleWorks isn't the only group that will pick up empties. Fundraisers for animal rescues also collect bottles and cans to pay for food and vet bills. Darlene Charman of Empties for Paws Orleans said empties play a major role in their fundraising. She saw a major uptick in collections during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it was tougher for people to get out for returns. She wonders whether the Beer Store closures might trigger a similar trend. "It could bring a little bit more of an influx of the empties to the animal rescues, because the people won't be bothered to drive further out," she said. Melody Lachance collects empties for several animal rescues through her fundraising group, Barrhaven & Area Empties. She too is hoping for a boost. "They may just contact us and say, 'Do you want my empties, because I'm not going to drive to wherever to cash them in,'" she said. Lachance is already looking to nearby Manotick, where a store is set to close later this month. But further closures could also be a hindrance, since both Lachance and Charman rely on the Beer Store for returns. Waste reduction advocate worried Duncan Bury of Waste Watch Ottawa agreed that charities can pick up some of the slack left as Beer Stores closed, but not enough to compensate for the overall decline of a collection system he already sees as severely lacking. Where other provinces like B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan collect about 80 per cent of their empties, Ontario brings in only about half. "That 50 per cent number will surely fall," Bury said. "The whole system, which is not very good to start with, is just going to get worse." Buty noted that most other provinces accept non-alcoholic containers and offer far more locations for residents to return their empties. Quebec has 1,200, while B.C. has 600. Currently, the Beer Store is required to keep at least 300 locations open as part of a contract with the provincial government. But that will end as of Jan. 1. Bury fears that could mean more closures and even fewer options for returns. "The options to recover those containers are frankly disappearing," said Bury. On that same date, the province will require grocery stores that sell alcohol to accept empties for collection. Bury said that could work. It's a major component of British Columbia's successful system. "If they can do it in British Columbia, there's absolutely no reason they shouldn't be able to do it in Ontario," he said. But he's concerned it won't happen. The province already requires about 70 grocery stores in areas without Beer Stores to accept empties. But a report in May found that few were actually complying. Bury said the province needs to be tough with the grocers, but it should also do more. He said Ontario should open stand-alone depots for bottle returns, like Quebec and British Columbia. Heckbert said BottleWorks could help businesses that sell alcohol by taking the empties off their hands. "I could imagine that for a grocery store, space and inventory will be an issue. It's the same thing that our bars and restaurants encounter," he said.
CTV News
14-07-2025
- CTV News
Growcer supporting the Ottawa Mission
Growcer supporting the Ottawa Mission Will goes to visit the brand-new facility that will massively support the Ottawa Mission going forward.
CBC
26-06-2025
- CBC
Hydroponic farmer, Ottawa Mission tackle food insecurity under the glow of LED lights
A pair of new farms are coming to Ottawa, though it may be hard to find them if you are looking for a sprawling land of crops. Rather than wearing work shirts out in the sun, the farmers at these operations will be wearing white lab coats under the beam of LED lights. The new farms are part of a joint project between the Ottawa Mission and Growcer, an Ottawa-based company specializing in the construction of hydroponic vertical farms. The new project was announced at Invest Ottawa on Thursday. Growcer's vertical farms grow leafy greens and various vegetables year-round in climate-controlled buildings resembling a standard ship cargo container. The company was founded a decade ago by University of Ottawa students Alida Burke and Corey Ellis, with the mission to address food insecurity in Canada's North. Since then, Ellis estimates they have launched 120 projects, most of which are within First Nations reserves and communities. Ellis says the decision to focus on Ottawa, however, came after Mayor Mark Sutcliffe visited one of their farms. "The mayor challenged us ... since we're based here in Ottawa, to do work in our own backyard and to partner with local charities to address that crisis," Ellis said. Addressing rising food insecurity According to the Ottawa Food Bank's 2024 hunger report, roughly one in four households in the city are facing food insecurity. The Ottawa Mission is one of a number of shelters helping to address this issue with their mobile food truck. A donour to the food truck program introduced the Ottawa Mission to Growcer. "Our programs are growing, the food truck program, the number of people we're feeding under the roof of the Ottawa Mission, the demand for our food supply is unprecedented," said Peter Tilley, CEO for the Ottawa Mission. "To have a program like this where we can get a sustainable, reliable source of leafy greens was just such a fit for us." The new project will be installed at Area X.O, near the intersection of Woodroffe Avenue and West Hunt Club Road in Nepean, in the coming weeks. Ellis says the project will focus on five key crops, including different types of lettuce alongside spinach, kale and arugula. End of summer harvest The first crop is expected to be ready by the end of the summer, with the produce going to the Mission's various meal programs. Those involved with the project say the two farms combined will be capable of producing over 9,000 kilograms of leafy greens per year. The farms will also offer training opportunities for students within the Ottawa Mission's Food Services Training Program, allowing them to help harvest the greens once the farms are operational. "A lot of our students are newcomers to Canada and they have no idea about farming, some of them don't have any idea where the produce they eat comes from," said Ric Allen-Watson, better known as Chef Ric, who founded the training program over two decades ago. Plans to expand Ellis says he hopes that this is only the start of Growcer's work in Ottawa, looking to build an additional 12 farms throughout the city over the next year. They are currently in talks with a number of local food banks and charities throughout the city, though Ellis did not specify which ones. "Bringing farms into the city is all about reminding people where their food comes from, and making the produce you get far tastier, more cost effective, more sustainable and frankly, it lasts way longer in your fridge." Sutcliffe is hopeful these farms will be replicated in neighbourhoods across the city as the project expands. "My understanding is this is something they can replicate in any neighbourhood in the city, and it doesn't take a lot to set up one of these facilities and then to start producing food for the local food bank or a local school food program." The project in Ottawa was helped in part by a donation from the Royal Bank of Canada to the Ottawa Community Foundation.
