Few Ontario grocery stores accepting booze empties, some weigh returning licences

Very few Ontario grocery stores accepting empty alcohol containers are doing so, leaving the future of the deposit return program in question as The Beer Store closes locations.

Very few Ontario grocery stores that are required to accept empty alcohol containers are doing so, leaving the future of the deposit return program in question as The Beer Store closes locations across the province.

Only about 70 grocery stores — ones that are more than five kilometres away from a Beer Store — have been required to take empties since last fall but only four are complying, says The Beer Store, which operates the deposit return system.

On Jan. 1, 2026, all grocery stores selling beer and wine — more than 1,000 are licensed, according to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario — will have to accept bottle returns as part of Premier Doug Ford’s move to speed up the availability of alcohol.

The Ministry of Finance says 13 of the grocery stores are complying and the rest of them with current obligations are “expected to join over the coming months.”

But Jan. 1 is also when The Beer Store is allowed under Ford’s alcohol agreement to close an unlimited number of stores, and with so few grocery stores already participating and others threatening to hand back their licences rather than participate in the deposit return program as currently structured, the program that saw 1.6 billion containers returned last year could be in jeopardy.

Karen Wirsig, a senior program manager at Environmental Defence, said the program allows for beer bottles to be reused, ensures the effective recycling of most alcohol packaging and keeps millions of tonnes of material out of landfills.

“As the Beer Stores keep closing, that will kill the Ontario deposit return program,” she said. “If you don’t make returns convenient for people, they won’t do it.”

John Nock, president of the union representing The Beer Store employees, said there should be some enforcement to ensure the grocery stores get deposit return systems up and running so consumers can get their 10 or 20 cents per container.