There’s at least 25,000 reasons David Hogg is glad he took his empties to the Bottle Depot Return-It Centre.
The Saanich resident is the $25,000 grand prize winner of the annual Return-it To Win-It beverage container recycling contest. He said his first reaction when he got he initial call was that it may be a hoax.
“There’s so many scams out there, ‘You’ve just won a cruise, etc.’,” said Hogg, who has been taking his returns to the Glanford Bottle Depot location since it opened seven years ago. “I couldn’t believe it at first and it took some convincing. I was pretty excited.”
Hogg, a former elementary school principal, plans to share the windfall with his two daughters and use part of it for a trip he had already planned to France next year to see his granddaughters.
“This will help pay for some more trips down the road,” he added.
Hogg works part time as a travel agent, and volunteers with his wife at a local hospital.
Chris Campbell, manager of marketing programs for Encorp Pacific (Canada), said there were more than 300,000 entries for the contest at the Glanford location. This marks the 10th year for the draw, sponsored by Encorp Pacific to encourage people to recycle at their local Return-It Depot.
“Last year’s prize of a Toyota Prius was exciting but this one takes the cake,” Campbell said.
Encorp Pcaific president Scott Fraser said the company’s message is clear.
“We collected a billion returnables last year, but there’s still another 250 million out there that we want returned,” he said. “That’s why we do these contests, to keep people thinking about recycling.”
Fraser said he was happy Hogg’s entry was the winner.
“This gentleman is really committed to recycling,” he noted.
Encorp Pacific (Canada) is a federally incorporated not-for-profit stewardship corporation that delivers systems to recover beverage containers from consumers to ensure they are recycled instead of being incinerated or sent to the landfill. Encorp also provides stewardship services on a contract basis for the collection and recycling of regulated electronic products.
The Bottle Depot Return-It Centre opened in 1995 with one employee. The locally owned and operated business now has three locations in the Victoria area that support numerous sports teams, community organizations and fundraising initiatives.