Downtown Beer Store's closure brews up bad feelings
Some downtown residents are worried about what the closure of the Beer Store's Rideau Street location will mean for both recycling rates and people who rely on the income from returning bottles.
The Rideau store is shutting its doors for good at 6 p.m. Sunday, two weeks before its lease is set to run out.
"It's sad to see this store go, because I do think it is part of our community," said Brian Baskerville, who lives a three-minute walk from the Rideau location and doesn't own a car.
"I guess I'm going to have to store [the bottles] and wait until I get enough of them and walk. You can't get on a bus carrying bags of recycling with you."
Source of income
Luke Mackenzie lives 10 to 15 minutes away from the store and says he visits it nearly every day to return cans and bottles he finds along his walk.
He believes its closure will not only mean a poorer beer selection for people who'll now have to visit the LCBO up the block, but will also be a financial hit to folks on low incomes.
"That extra $2 or $3 a day, add it up over 365 days, right? It's a fair amount of money for people. It's that little extra bit that actually helps them," he said.
The next closest Beer Stores are two kilometres away at 7 Selkirk St. in Vanier and 2.5 kilometres away at 515 Somerset St W.
There is another store within four kilometres on Scott Street in Hintonburg.
In a statement sent to CBC News, the Beer Store said the company is "always looking for new store or redevelopment opportunities where there is good commercial sense to do so.
The company did not explain why it wasn't renewing the Rideau Street store's lease when it runs out Oct. 30.
The company also said it recognizes people rely on their locations to return their empty alcohol containers, and that factors into decisions about where they go — but it's also changing its delivery model, with a new mobile app and home delivery.
Discourages recycling
By having to travel farther to a Beer Store to return empty bottles, Baskerville believes more people might throw them in the garbage.
He wants the Ontario government to do more to help people return their empty bottles than rely on a private corporation.
The Ontario Deposit Return Program, or Bag it Back, was introduced in 2007 to encourage residents to recycle their empty bottles and divert them from landfills or regular blue bin recycling.
People pay an extra 10 cents per glass bottle, aluminum can, or tetra pak that's less than 630 millilitres. For bottles and cans larger than that amount, people pay 20 cents for bottles and cans.
They can receive that deposit back when they return their empties to the Beer Store.
Baskerville said if the government wants people to recycle, they should have a more convenient system to reward recycling.
He points to other countries like Germany, Australia, and the United Kingdom that have a vending machine-type system where people can return their empty bottles, including plastic bottles, for some extra cash.
"I think there's got to be a better way than .. relying on the Beer Store," Baskerville said.
