Finding a spot in Manitoba to blue box that pop can or coffee cup may soon be a lot easier.

Due to the province’s estimate that at least 30 per cent of beverages are consumed away from home, a new recycling program will kick off late in 2012 with a pilot project at the Manitoba Legislature and Memorial Park in Winnipeg, eventually expanding to all provincial buildings, parks and highway stops.

When Conservation and Water Stewardship Minister Gord Mackintosh announced the recycling expansion on June 12, 2012, he indicated that Manitoba has set a recovery target of 75 per cent for beverage containers. The province has teamed up with the Canadian Beverage Container Recycling Association (CBCRA) to achieve the recovery target by 2016.

According to the CBCRA, the blue boxes will have a decal that reads “Recycle Everywhere”, which refers to the recycling promotion program that began on April 1, 2010.

CBCRA also noted that for each beverage container sold in Manitoba, $0.02 are contributed to the program and its blue box infrastructure, covering up to 80 per cent of the cost to collect and process the containers through Multi-Material Stewardship Manitoba.

Although multi-material recycling services have been available in Manitoba government buildings since 2007, the minister noted that the expansion will take the province one step closer to the recycling recovery target.

The CBCRA program launched at Birds Hill Provincial Park in 2010 to improve beverage container recycling. Recycling services will continue to be expanded throughout the provincial park system, the minister said.