Authority approves Stewardship Ontario’s plan to further mitigate conflict of interest and undue commercial advantage

The Authority has approved Stewardship Ontario’s “Plan to Further Mitigate Conflict of Interest and Undue Commercial Advantage arising out of Stewardship Ontario’s Continuing Relationship with CSSA (Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance)”. Read the approval letter.

On February 11, 2021, Stewardship Ontario submitted a plan addressing measures to further mitigate conflict of interest and undue commercial advantage to the Authority as outlined in Condition #2 of the Authority’s approval of Stewardship Ontario’s Blue Box Program Transition and Stewardship Ontario Wind-up Plan in December 2020. The second condition directed Stewardship Ontario to submit their plan to the Authority by February 15.

The Authority imposed the second condition to address gaps in the conflict of interest plan outlined in Stewardship Ontario’s wind-up plan and ensure better alignment with the Minister’s direction, as well as to address stakeholder concerns around competitive advantage raised during the Authority’s consultation on the wind-up plan.

The approved plan outlines three key measures:

1. Two new policies related to the segregation of select CSSA staff and prohibitions on solicitation of Stewardship Ontario stewards
2. Attestations and due diligence reporting to ensure abidance with the new policies and the existing CSSA confidentiality policy
3. An amendment to the Code of Conduct to apply to all Stewardship Ontario staff. The Authority will be consulted before Stewardship Ontario hires any new consultants to ensure consistency with the submitted plan.

The plan is available upon request by emailing info@rpra.ca.

On December 16, 2020, the Authority approved Stewardship Ontario’s wind-up plan with six conditions. The conditions were developed to address the proposed plan’s shortcomings in meeting the requirements in the Waste Diversion Transition Act, 2016, the Minister’s direction and the Authority’s Wind-Up Guide, and in order to optimize the outcomes the Minister’s directions seek to achieve. The conditions were informed by the stakeholder feedback received during the Authority’s consultation process.

Visit SO’s website for information on the implementation of the approved wind-up plan or contact SO for any operational inquiries.