Yellowknife (Oct 22/04) - The minister responsible for the NWT's new recycling program says he is confident the project won't go over budget.

But it's unlikely the Beverage Container Recovery Program will be up and running in all NWT communities by the government's target date of April 1, said Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development Minister Brendan Bell.

The recycling depositories for each community have yet to be built.

Bell's department is currently drafting requests for proposals, seeking interested parties in each community who wish to manage the depositories.

"We're not sure if all communities will have depots by April 1, but the intent is to have one in every community," said Bell.

Approximately $1 million has been set aside to pay for starting up the program.

Bell said the aim is to have the program pay for itself through a 5-10 cent deposit surcharge on pop cans and bottles.

"We looked at other programs across the country and we think the one million bucks gets us there in terms of capital," said Bell.

He said people will be able to collect most of the deposit back when then they bring in their beverage containers for recycling.

The collected beverage containers will likely be sent to regional processing centres in Yellowknife, Hay River and Inuvik, where they will be sorted and then sent to recycling plants down south.

The program has been several years coming.

The Waste Recovery and Reduction Act - under which the program falls - was passed in the legislative assembly last fall.

It may take time to get people to get their beverage containers to depositories regularly, but it will ultimately work, Bell said.

"We wouldn't be embarking on this if we thought it would be an out-and-out failure," said Bell.

"I keep hearing from constituents that this is important. We don't want to be pouring this stuff into landfills."