2023-10-27 06:03:15
The only Quebec microbrewery beer bottle washing company is closing its doors, we have learned The Pressa hard blow for small brewers that several observers attribute to the government’s lack of interest in reusable beverage containers.
Published at 2:03 a.m. Updated at 5:00 a.m.
What there is to know
Quebec’s only microbrewery beer bottle washing plant declared bankruptcy in mid-October, we have learned The Press. The factory that washes the bottles of large brewers remains in operation, but will probably not be able to wash the bottles of microbreweries. Various observers accuse the government of having abandoned the system of multiple filling containers, although they are more ecological than single filling containers.
“The Sustainable Packaging Master” submitted on October 17 the report on the activities of its Quebec factory, which washed the bottles of all the microbreweries in the province.
“What concerns us is being able to continue to wash the multi-fill containers,” he told The Press the general director of the Association of Microbrasseries of Quebec (AMBQ), Marie-Eve Myrand, who discusses the possible purchase of the equipment.
No microbrewery only uses bottles, which will mitigate the effects of the closure, she specifies, deploring that the situation is once once more pushing small brewers towards aluminum cans.
We are going to move from a multiple filling container, which has a [faible] ecological footprint, to a single-fill container system, which has a less positive footprint.
Marie-Eve Myrand, general director of the AMBQ
Multiple-fill containers have “significantly lower” environmental impacts than single-fill containers, regardless of the material, according to an analysis by the Interuniversity Research Center on the Life Cycle of Products, Processes and Services of Quebec (CIRAIG).
Steady decline
The Maître enpackage durable factory only washed one and a half million bottles per year, compared to four million “in the good years”, indicated to The Press its founder, Noël Gauthier, who launched the company in 2016.
“It was still going downhill for 2024,” he regrets, specifying that his other factory, which is a separate legal entity located in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, where the bottles of the major brewers are washed, continues its activities.
Noël Gauthier would like to be able to wash the bottles of microbreweries there, but it is unlikely that this will be possible, he admits, explaining that the microbrewers do not have a sufficient volume of bottles for this ultra-modern factory which came into service in 2021, which washes 32,000 bottles an hour, and many of them use self-adhesive labels rather than cold glue like the big brewers.
In Quebec, we did it, with slower soaking methods, washing the bottles twice, but that was our downfall.
Noel Gauthier
Government disinterest
The Quebec government is partly responsible for the situation, accuses the AMBQ, which accuses it of favoring single-fill containers (CRU) to the detriment of multiple-fill containers (CRM).
“It’s timid if there is an intention to maintain the CRM, because there are many obstacles in the way,” complains Marie-Eve Myrand. It forces us to consider the CRU as an option when that is not our wish. »
Added to this closure is another tile that has fallen on microbrewers in recent days: retailers will now charge them a “handling fee” of 2.5¢ per container, an impact estimated at $1 million per year for the sector. .
“Microbrewers are no longer able to enter bottles [chez les détaillants]they are pushed to make cane “, also notes Noël Gauthier, who believes that the extension of the deposit on beverage containers which will come into force on Wednesday is a missed opportunity to promote CRM.
“Those who took control [du système de la consigne], they are the anti-consignees, he said. They don’t want things to go well! »
These criticisms echo those of environmental organizations, which are sounding the alarm on the decline of beer bottles, whose usage rate has fallen from 83% in 2009 to 15% in 2022, deplores Amélie Côté, reduction analyst at the Équiterre spring.
Now one more tile falls on these SMEs who have made this choice which is truly beneficial for the environment. What will the minister do to support microbrewers who contribute to local economic vitality?
Amélie Côté, Équiterre source reduction analyst
The ceiling on single-use containers imposed on beer brewers was also abandoned by the Société québécoise de Récupération et de Recycling (Recyc-Québec) in 2019, revealed The Press at the time.
“We abandoned the development of the multiple-fill container system, we let it die,” also believes Karel Ménard, general director of the Quebec Common Front for Ecological Waste Management.
“It’s not surprising that companies that wash multiple-fill bottles are tearing them up,” he judges, believing that the situation tarnishes the extension of Wednesday’s deposit, which should have favored this type of containers. .
It was not possible to obtain a reaction from the office of the Minister of the Environment, the Fight once morest Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks on Thursday evening.
The Maître en repackage durable factory in Quebec has assets worth $333,000 and debts of $1.64 million; its largest creditors are Canadian Agricultural Financial and the Royal Bank of Canada, according to the bankruptcy report prepared by insolvency trustee Raymond Chabot, who is managing the liquidation of the company’s assets.
Learn more
6 Number of uses of a multi-fill container following which it becomes more environmentally friendly than a single-fill container
source: Interuniversity Research Center on the life cycle of products, processes and services of Quebec (CIRAIG).
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