Bring empty wine bottles to SAQ to turn up pressure for deposit system, group urges

The refusal of Quebec's liquor agency, the SAQ, to establish a deposit-return system on oldwine bottleshas gone from vintage to vinegar, says a new lobby group called SAQ Consigne.

Quebec is one of the only provinces in Canada that still doesn't accept wine bottle returns.

SAQ Consigne spokesperson Denis Blaquire thinks the SAQis the ideal place to accept empty wine bottles and that it would put a bottle deposit-return systemin placeif mandated to do so by the government.

Such a system "creates jobs.It makes sense economically. It's good for the environment. So why don't we have that inQuebec?" he asks.

Blaquire wants citizens to start bringing their empty wine bottles to the SAQ,as a way of pressuring the agencyto accept them.

The SAQ has rebuffed the idea, saying it wants wine bottles to "get a secondlife" through Quebec's current curbside recycling program.

SAQ spokespersonLinda Bouchard said the agencyalready participates in intiatives to increase glass recycling.

For Blaquire, thatisn't enough.

He said withthe curbside bins, glass breaks on its way to the recycling plant, and it ends up contaminating paper and plastic collected in the same bins.

That's an issue the SAQ said it is helping work on.