Where can I return my milk containers?

You can return your milk containers to any SARCAN Recycling depot or at alternative community locations.

What are SARCAN’s hours of operation?

Hours of operation vary across the province.  For a listing of depot hours of operation, click here.

What types of milk containers can be returned?

For a listing of milk containers that SARCAN can and cannot accept, click here.

What are the fees on milk containers?

Consumers pay a small recycling charge on the larger sized milk containers at point of purchase (1¢ on 1 litre and 2 litre containers; 2¢ on 4 litre containers).  There is no fee on the smaller sized milk containers.

Why is there no deposit refund for milk containers like there is for other beverage containers?

Milk containers are specifically excluded from the deposit refund system by Provincial legislation.  Customers do not pay a deposit on the milk container at point of purchase; therefore, customers do not get a refund when returning to the depot.

Why remove the caps and rinse and flatten milk jugs and cartons?

We work hard to make SARCAN Recycling depots clean and customer friendly.  Rinsing milk jugs and cartons in hot water eliminates milk residue, thereby preventing the foul odour caused by fermented milk.  Removing the caps allows proper air drying, further reducing the chance of odour.  Flattening saves space for storage.  All of these tips make it easier for you and SARCAN to store milk containers.

What happens to the milk containers?

To see what happens to milk containers after they are returned to SARCAN, refer to the Where Does It Go? page.

What is the Unified Dairy Recycling System?

The Unified Dairy Recycling System (UDRS) is an environmental stewardship program that provides a voluntary collection and recycling system for plastic milk jugs and paper milk cartons.

How is the program funded?

The funding comes from the small recycling charge that the consumer pays when purchasing a milk container.  The charge is attached by the participating companies to the wholesale price of large sizes of milk containers and remitted by the participating companies to the Saskatchewan Milk Control Board.  All charges collected are used to fund and promote the milk container recycling program.

Why is it important to recycle milk containers?

Over 20,000,000 milk jugs and cartons ended up in Saskatchewan landfills last year.  That is a lot of unnecessary waste when you consider that recycling them at SARCAN keeps them out of our landfills and turns them into useful products like paper tissue, cardboard, and plastic patio furniture.

Here are some other important reasons to recycle milk containers:

• It takes about half the amount of energy to use recycled plastic to make the same product as it does with new materials
• Recycling paper and plastics conserves renewable resources (trees) and non-renewable resources (oil and natural gas)
• Keeping bulky milk containers out of the waste stream reduces the cost to collect, transport, and landfill, thereby reducing taxes