Quebecers use 700 million plastic bottles a year, and hundreds of millions of those bottles end up not in recycling centres, but in landfills.

To curb that statistic, the government wants implement a deposit on the bottles.

A consignment system, the government argues, would encourage people to bring bottles back to the store or to a recycle centre, which means they would be sorted properly and in turn recycled properly.

“If people know more about where that bottle ends up once they’re done with it, I think they’ll understand that we need to find new ways of making sure that bottle doesn’t end up in a landfill, that it is recycled or reused properly. That’s better for us, it’s better for our children,” said Environment Minister David Heurtel.

The government is also planning on looking at ways to better recycle glass and to improve curbside recycling.

It aims to have new legislation in place by next year at the latest.