TheBulletin.ca Journal of Downtown Toronto
The Beer Store on Gerrard (at Ontario) has “hi-tech in its search for more and more green solutions to modern living,” reports Doug Fisher of the Old Cabbagetown BIA.
The Gerrard St. location is one of three Toronto stores to be chosen to pilot what Beer Store communications manager Sara Taylor calls “reverse vending machines.”
“Just take your bottles to the side door ramp, select the proper machine and toss them into it one-by-one,” Fisher describes.
“You can watch them get crunched instantaneously. When your load has been delivered, press the green button and you’ll get a printed receipt.”
The printed receipts can be redeemed inside the store immediately or at a later date, making the return process something that can be done outside of normal store hours.
“The ramp makes it wheelchair accessible and it is lit and covered so people can use it in inclement weather,” adds Taylor.
The Gerrard St. location was chosen due to “a large volume of returns,” Taylor reports. “Plus we had to have the space available.” The other locations are at Jane and Dundas and in Mississauga.
While the environmentally-friendly machines offer a convenient replacement for in-store returns, they only take wine bottles, spirit containers and beer cans. Reusable beer bottles are not being accepted at this stage in the project.
