If you're one of the many Ottawa residents who regularly makes the trek across the river to shop at a Gatineau or Aylmer grocery store, you'll want to know about a big change coming to how Quebec handles bottle and can returns.
Quebec is phasing out the familiar reverse vending machines — those clunky deposit machines you feed empty beer bottles and juice containers into — from grocery stores across the province, including those just minutes from Ottawa in the Outaouais region.
What's Changing?
The shift is part of a modernization plan by Consignaction, Quebec's deposit return system operator. Instead of returning empties directly in-store, consumers will eventually bring their bottles and cans to dedicated sorting centres being built around the province.
The idea is to streamline the process and handle a much higher volume of returns more efficiently. Quebec significantly expanded its deposit system in 2023 to include wine bottles, spirits, and more container types — which dramatically increased the number of returns retailers had to process. The in-store machines simply weren't keeping up.
Why It Matters for Ottawa Shoppers
For Hull and Gatineau regulars from Ottawa — whether you're crossing for cheaper alcohol, a favourite grocery chain, or a weekend market run — the current system is pretty convenient. You bring your empties along, stuff them in the machine by the entrance, grab your receipt, and knock a few dollars off your bill. Easy.
Under the new model, that quick loop gets broken. You'd need to make a separate trip to a sorting centre, or hold onto your empties until one is accessible near where you shop or live — on the Quebec side.
Not everyone is sold on the change. Critics, including some grocery store owners and consumer advocates, worry the new system will reduce return rates by making the process less convenient. If the sorting centres aren't close to where people live or shop, many will simply stop returning empties altogether.
Ontario Has Its Own System
It's worth noting that Ottawa's Ontario-side residents have their own deposit return setup through the Beer Store and, more recently, Ontario's expanded Blue Box program. Ontario has been slowly rolling out a return-to-retail model for cans and bottles at grocery and convenience stores — something Quebec's new direction is actually moving away from.
The contrast is interesting: Ontario is pushing deposits closer to the point of purchase, while Quebec is pulling them further away in favour of centralized sorting.
What Happens Next
Consignaction hasn't announced a hard deadline for all machines to disappear, and the rollout will be gradual. Some grocery stores in the Outaouais may keep machines operational for a transition period while sorting centres are built and operational kinks are worked out.
If you're a frequent cross-border shopper, it's worth checking whether your usual Quebec grocery stop still has a machine before hauling a trunk full of empties across the Chaudière or Macdonald-Cartier.
For now, the empties routine on the Quebec side is about to get a little more complicated — and Ottawa's river-crossing regulars will be among the first to feel it.
Source: CBC News
