12/01/2025
Last week I met with a local businessman, Dylan Sarson, who is feeling the impacts to the refundable in Maritime provinces. Dylan owns several recycling businesses in our border community, including Nova 4 Metals. He employs more than 20 people at good wages and provides a health plan for his employees. He wants to keep providing stable, well-paying jobs and to see his business grow not shrink, but the recent changes in neighbouring provinces are making that much harder.
As a border community, we really feel it when our provinces are not aligned and not working collaboratively. New Brunswick has already moved to a full-refund model: people now receive 10 cents back on most beverage containers and 20 cents back on larger glass alcohol containers.
Prince Edward Island is now planning a similar move to a full “10-cent in, 10-cent back” system effective April 1, 2026.
Here in Cumberland North, that difference matters. While I was visiting Dylan’s business on McCully Street in Amherst, there was a steady stream of customers coming through the door but he’s seeing more than a 50% drop in revenue in some parts of his operation as people take their refundables across the border where they can get double the refund. Businesses like Dylan’s are important to our local economy and to our community. They turn what would otherwise be waste into jobs, income, and environmental benefits right here at home.
Research on deposit-return systems is very clear: when the deposit and refund go up, return rates go up too. Jurisdictions with higher deposit values consistently see more containers brought back for recycling and fewer ending up in landfills.
That means less litter, less material buried in the ground, and more valuable resources kept in the circular economy.
I have asked our provincial government to work with local businesses like Dylan’s and to seriously consider whether it is time for Nova Scotia to follow New Brunswick’s and PEI’s lead by moving to a full 10-cent refund (and higher refunds on larger containers). Aligning our system with our neighbours would help level the playing field for border businesses, improve recycling rates, and reduce waste.
This is yet another example of why we need more collaboration between the Maritime provinces. We are stronger when we work together, not when each province operates in a silo especially in border communities like ours, where policy differences show up immediately in people’s livelihoods.
