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7. Plan Performance

7 Plan Performance

  • Movement of containers and how the money flows through the Return-It network.
  • Revenue and expenditure detail.
  • Purpose of operating reserves, how they are determined and why they’re important.
  • Container recycling fees by product.

7.1 How Money Flows

The arrows show the direction of payments for deposits and container recycling fees (CRFs) and the movement of beverage containers.

Flow of money and containers

7.2 Follow the Money

Revenues

Container Recycling Fees
When the revenue from unclaimed deposits and from sales of collected material is insufficient to cover the cost of recovering and recycling a specific container type, a non-refundable recycling fee is added to the container to make up for the shortfall.

Other Fees
Revenues and income from service provider contracts.

Sale of Processed Containers
A portion of the cost of recovering aluminum and plastic containers, the two largest categories, is covered by the value of the commodity collected. The prices for aluminum and plastic continued to be strong in 2022, resulting in high commodity revenue compared to the original forecast.

Unredeemed Deposits
Encorp is paid a deposit on every container sold. Deposits unclaimed are used to fund the system.

Revenue Chart 2021
Where the money comes from
Container Recycling Fees $52.8 million 40.0%
Other Fees and Income* 11.8 million 8.9%
Sale of Processed Containers 28.6 million 21.7%
Unredeemed Deposits 38.9 million 29.4%
 
Total Revenues 132.1 million 100%
Note: Calculations may show slight variances due to rounding.
*Other Fees includes Electronics, MARR, Textiles and interest income and foreign exchange gain/loss

Expenditures

Deposit Refunds
Paid to depots and grocery retailers to reimburse them for the deposits they have refunded to consumers.

Operations Expenses
Operations expenses consist of collection and transportation and processing expenses. This accounts for 88.4% of overall expenditures in 2022.

Collection Expenditures
Encorp’s single-largest expense is the cost of collection that includes handling fees paid to contracted, independently owned Return-It depots that service customers, collect the material and prepare the material for collection by Encorp’s transportation partners.

Transportation and Processing
Encorp contracts with various trucking companies to collect containers from depots and grocery retailers and deliver them to our contracted processing partners, where they are processed, sorted and compacted for shipment to end markets. For these services, Encorp pays them transportation fees, fuel and processing fees.

Administration
Management of contracts, collection of revenues and payment of expenses.

Consumer Education and Awareness
Programs that encourage consumers to return containers for recycling.

Expenditures Chart 2021
Where the money is spent
Collection $68.7 million 57.9%
Transportation and Processing 36.2 million 30.5%
Administration Expenses 7.5 million 6.3%
Consumer Awareness 5.4 million 4.6%
Other Expenses** 0.8 million 0.7%
Total Expenditures 118.6 million 100%
**Other Expenses include amortization.
 
 

7.3 Operating Reserves

Purpose of the Operating Reserves

Encorp’s reserves are built upon the corporation’s fundamental principles of no cross-subsidization of container types and equitable treatment of brand owners. The operating reserves are required to provide stability to the system over the long term, to avoid cross-subsidization of container types, and to facilitate and stabilize the frequency of container recycling fee (CRF) changes.

CRFs may be raised, reduced or even eliminated in any given year to keep reserves within their targeted ranges. Reserves can also be reduced by increasing spending on activities designed to improve the recovery rate for a specific container type. The table shows the levels of reserves over recent years.

Total Revenue vs. Reserves 2019–2022 Total Reserves Gross Revenue(Including Deposits) $0 $50 $100 $150 $200 $300 $250 Amount in $ millions Year 2019 2020 2021 2022 $223,532 $259,353 $212,706 $161,691

Management of the Operating Reserves

Encorp’s financial model requires a reasonable level of operating reserves to provide stability to the system and to ensure that stable program operations continue through variable economic conditions. When these reserves rise above the targeted reserve range, measures are taken to reduce them to the appropriate level.

Encorp’s operating reserves are maintained to meet the corporation’s cash flow requirements, recognizing normal business volatility balanced over a period of three to five years.

This year, the net assets of the company increased by $13.5 million for a total balance of $48.5 million. The net assets include $8.1 million in internally restricted reserves and $40.4 million in operating reserves. The operating reserves are required to support weekly payments to customers, depots, transporters and processors during six weeks of the peak season.

Slide the table left and right. (Scroll bar is below table.)
  Gross Revenue
Including Deposits
(millions)
Total Expenses
Including Deposit Refunds
(millions)
Surplus / (Deficit)
 
(millions)
Net Assets
Year-End
(millions)
2018 167.2 166.7 0.5 33.9
2019 161.7 173.5 (11.8) 22.1
2020 212.7 211.8 0.9 23.0
2021 223.5 211.5 12.0 35.0
2022 259.5 246.0 13.5 48.5

7.4 Container Recycling Fees

CRF stands for Container Recycling Fee. This is the fee Encorp charges to cover the net cost of recycling a beverage container type after any unredeemed deposits and commodity revenues for that container type have been used.

CRFs have been in place for beverage containers in British Columbia for over 22 years. The CRF varies for each beverage container category. As a not-for-profit product stewardship agency, Encorp Pacific only charges the net cost for recovering and recycling beverage containers. The CRF reflects current economic conditions such as commodity prices and beverage volumes.

Slide the table left and right. (Scroll bar is below table.)
Container Type 01-Feb-21 01-Feb-22
Aluminum 1.0 cent 1.0 cent
Plastic ≤ 1L 2.0 cents 2.0 cents
Plastic > 1L 7.0 cents 4.0 cents
Polystyrene 2.0 cents 2.0 cents
Glass ≤ 1L 7.0 cents 10.0 cents
Glass > 1L 18.0 cents 16.0 cents
Bi-Metal ≤ 1L 4.0 cents 1.0 cents
Bi-Metal > 1L N/A N/A
Drink Boxes ≤ 500 ml N/A N/A
Drink Boxes 501 ml - 1L 5.0 cents N/A cents
Gable Top ≤ 1L N/A N/A
Gable Top > 1L 6.0 cents 4.0 cents
Drink Pouches N/A N/A
Glass Wine & Spirits ≤ 1L 13.0 cents 13.0 cents
Glass Wine & Spirits > 1L 18.0 cents 16.0 cents
Non-Refillable Beer, Cider, Cooler Glass ≤ 1L 9.0 cents 10.0 cents
Non-Refillable Beer, Cider, Cooler Glass > 1L 18.0 cents 16.0 cents
Liquor Plastic ≤ 1L 2.0 cents 2.0 cents
Liquor Plastic > 1L 5.0 cents 3.0 cents
Liquor Bag-In-A-Box 13.0 cents 12.0 cents