Building on commitments in its Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan and recommendations from Special Advisor David Lindsay’s report on Recycling and Plastic Waste, the Ontario government  announced today next steps to transition the costs of the Blue Box Program away from municipal taxpayers and to make the producers of products and packaging fully responsible.

There are over 240 municipal blue box programs that have their own separate lists of accepted recyclable materials, which affects cost savings and contamination.30 per cent of what is put into the blue box is sent to landfill.

Ontario is issuing a direction to Stewardship Ontario, which manages the current Blue Box Program, outlining the next steps and timelines to transitioning the program to producer responsibility starting in 2023.

Starting this fall, Ontario will begin early engagement with a broad range of stakeholders Over the coming year, the government will develop and consult on regulations to support the new producer responsibility framework for the Blue Box Program. Stewardship Ontario will submit a plan to the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority by June 30, 2020.

The Blue Box Program will transition to producer responsibility in phases over a three-year period. The Blue Box Program will begin preparing for transition once the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority approves the plan, no later than December 31, 2020.

The first group of municipalities or First Nations will transfer responsibility of their programs to producers starting January 1, 2023. By December 31, 2025, producers will be fully responsible for providing blue box services province wide.

Ontario. Residents who currently receive municipal blue box services will, continue to receive the same services throughout the transition period

Manning Environmental Law is a Canadian law firm based in Toronto, Ontario. Our practice is focussed on environmental law, energy law and aboriginal law. 

Paul Manning is a certified specialist in environmental law. He has been named as one of the World’s Leading Environmental Lawyers and one of the World’s Leading Climate Change Lawyers by Who’s Who Legal.

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