green cans and bottles

So.
I was taking some bottles and cans back to the bottle depot and getting some cash for my daily Kraft dinner and…ok, it wasn’t for Kraft dinner but, I was, indeed, taking bottles back for the refund and I discovered something kinda weird.
I had in my bounty a few cans from Whole Foods, their house ‘365’ brand and when they were discovered amongst my loot they told me they couldn’t take them. Well, they could take them but they wouldn’t be issuing me any refund for them, as they were non-refundable in Canada. The cans were border jumpers. They would recycle them for me but no cash. Hhmmm. Ok. That’s cool.
But then I began to think about it. Were all 365 products, or at least beverage containers of all shapes and sizes, non-refundable in Canada? Are they charging a deposit fee at the till, which all places do when you buy canned and bottled beverages, or were they letting that slide because they aren’t refundable? Or do they make it so you can only refund the beverage containers at Whole Foods or Capers?
Just to make sure I couldn’t return any 365 beverage container I took a large plastic lemonade container bearing the 365 label to another depot and they too said no. We won’t take it.
Next stop Whole Foods to see if they take them back and if they are, indeed, charging a deposit fee on the containers at the till.
The cans and bottles have clearly been re-labelled for the Canadian market with stickers covering any US markings. But I wonder about a company that is so Green, or so they say, that brings in containers that are only refundable at the point of sale and not like all other containers in B.C. that are easily taken to any depot for the refund. We, as people, are lazy and if it can’t be easily refunded we’re not going to do it. And this goes for the binners as well. If it’s too hard for them, they’re not going to fill their carts with things that are too hard to get the cash for thus leaving, potentially, tons of cans and bottles littering the streets and alleys.
Just a thought.
Next stop a check of my bill at Whole Foods to see if they’re charging the deposit at the point of sale and if they take them back there.
I’m just doing my bit for the binners and the environment.

g. xo