Beauâs All Natural Brewery founders Tim and Steve Beauchesne (left and right) and Operation Go Home’s Gerald Dragon have turned the brewer’s bottle return problem into a program for street youth.
Steve Beauchesne, co-founder of Beau’s All Natural Brewery, discovered The Beer Store would not receive his empty bottles when customers returned them.
Located in Vankleek Hill, just outside of Ottawa, Beau’s is sold in liquor stores in Ottawa and the surrounding area, but not at The Beer Store. He said he learned that if he did not sell through them, he wouldn’t get his bottles back.
“We decided that’s not acceptable for us,” says Beauchesne, who prides himself on Beau’s environmental record. “So we started looking into different ways to get our bottles back, so we could reuse them.”
After being approached by various groups, they teamed up with Operation Go Home, a drop-in centre for street youth, to collect the empties through a business called BottleWorks.
This social enterprise employs youth to collect empty liquor, beer and wine bottles from bars, restaurants and other locations in downtown Ottawa. They will also collect Beau’s bottles from various drop-off depots located throughout the city.
“We’ve created a system that’s far superior than the regular Beer Store setup anyway,” said Beauchesne. “It gets us our bottles back and does it in a way that provides a real social benefit.”
Beau’s and Operation Go Home will launch BottleWorks Nov. 29 with a party at the drop-in centre in the Byward Market, where people can bring back their bottles.
Bottles can be brought to depot locations throughout the city, including at Operation Go Home. BottleWorks is confirming exact locations but are in talks with businesses in the Glebe and Westboro. They are still searching for a drop-off in Centretown.
“We are looking for other grocery stores or other locations that will allow people to drop off their Beau’s bottles,” says Elspeth McKay, executive director of Operation Go Home.
BottleWorks will employ eight youth for a six-month period before hiring another group. They will be paid a base wage with incentives, increasing with the amount of bottles they collect.
“A number of youth at Operation Go Home require supported employment,” she says. Those involved will be able to get work experience while getting assistance from the centre to deal with challenges they face.
“We have taken a very unfortunate thing and created it into the most positive thing that you can imagine,” says Beauchesne.