Authority’s Director of Transition Geoff Rathbone Appointed Managing Director of the Continuous Improvement Fund

The Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority’s Director of Transition Geoff Rathbone has been appointed Managing Director of the Continuous Improvement Fund (CIF), effective February 1, 2021. Mr. Rathbone will step down from his current role as Director of Transition on January 29, 2021.

The CIF is a partnership between the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the City of Toronto and the Authority and is mandated to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Ontario’s Blue Box Program. The CIF provides funding, technical support, and training to municipalities to develop best practices and identify technical solutions to enhance program improvements.

“I am grateful for Geoff’s contributions to the Authority’s work since he joined the organization. His strategic leadership in driving complex transition processes, balancing interests to achieve fair outcomes, and finding creative solutions has been critical to meeting the Minister’s objectives in transitioning Ontario to extended producer responsibility,” said Frank Denton, CEO of the Authority.

Prior to joining the Authority, Mr. Rathbone was Director of Operations for Waste Diversion Ontario (WDO), the predecessor organization to the Authority. When the Authority was established in November 2016, Geoff was appointed Acting CEO by the Initial Board and was responsible for initiating the process of transforming WDO into the Authority. Mr. Rathbone was appointed the Authority’s Director of Transition in August 2017.

“Geoff’s many accomplishments with the Authority over the past 4 years include overseeing the operation of Ontario’s legacy waste diversion programs until their wind up and transition to Ontario’s new extended producer responsibility regulatory framework, starting with the Used Tires Program operated by Ontario Tire Stewardship; followed by the Batteries portion of the Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste Program operated by Stewardship Ontario; overseeing the development and implementation of the wind-up plan for the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Program operated by Ontario Electronic Stewardship; and most recently overseeing the development of Stewardship Ontario’s proposed wind-up plan for the Blue Box Program,” added Mr. Denton.

“It’s been a great privilege to have been part of the founding executive team at the Authority and to have contributed to advancing Ontario’s circular economy. The opportunity to lead the CIF allows me to continue my life-long passion for resource recovery and especially allows me to apply my operational experiences to help transition Ontario’s Blue Box Program to the next level,” said Mr. Rathbone.

Mr. Rathbone’s executive responsibilities as Director of Transition will be reassigned to other members of the Authority’s leadership team.