MONTREAL -- The Legault government is launching seven pilot projects to pave the way for its major plan to expand the deposit system in Quebec to cover virtually all beverage containers, including water and wine bottles.

The objective is to test which system will be the most effective. Eventually, Quebec estimates that 4 billion containers (from 100 ml. to 2 liters) will be recovered annually.

These seven pilot projects will be spread over six cities: Granby, Châteauguay, Trois-Rivières, Mont-Laurier, Terrebonne and Montreal.

In these locations, citizens can return all types of beverage containers to the same place; they do not need to bring their wine bottles to the SAQ and their empty water bottles to the supermarket.

The projects were presented Tuesday morning by Benoit Charette, Minister of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change, and Sonia Gagné, President and CEO of RECYC-QUÉBEC, at a Maxi supermarket in the Ahuntsic district of Montreal.

Machines capable of accepting all kinds of bottles were installed near the entrance of the supermarket. They recognize the container inserted thanks to the barcode on the label. After the deposit is made, the machines provide a paper receipt that can be exchanged for money at the cash registers.

Due to space constraints, some machines will be installed in locations such as parking lots.

In the pilot projects, only aluminum cans, plastic and glass soft drink bottles, and beer bottles will be refunded — as is already the case.

But new types of containers are being added. Wine and liquor bottles, water bottles, and juice or milk containers are accepted in the pilot, but will not be reimbursed at this time. However, they will be reimbursed in 2022.

The pilot projects started recently and are expected to last six months. Final deposit reform is expected to take effect by the end of 2022.

Minister Charette said that everything that is recovered "will be recycled," meaning that the material will be used to make other beverage containers or other objects.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Aug. 17, 2021.