Read RPRA’s Datacall Trends Report: Analysis of Ontario’s Residential Recycling Program from 2002 to 2021
The Datacall Trends Report highlights trends and provides analysis of Ontario’s residential waste diversion data reported into the Datacall between 2002 and 2021. Read the report here.
Since 2002, the annual Datacall has collected tonnage and financial data associated with operating the Blue Box Program and other residential waste diversion activities from municipalities, recycling associations and First Nation communities in Ontario.
The transition of the legacy Blue Box Program operated under the Waste Diversion Transition Act, 2016 to the new Blue Box Regulation issued under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016, and the winding up of the Datacall, provides an opportunity to review Ontario’s residential waste management data reported into the Datacall over the past two decades and the overall trends.
Background information
The legacy Blue Box Program began transitioning to the new producer responsibility regulatory framework for resource recovery on July 1, 2023, and will continue through to December 31, 2025. Under the new framework outlined in the Blue Box Regulation, producers of Blue Box materials are fully financially responsible and accountable for the collection and management of Blue Box materials in Ontario. The new framework negates the need to determine program costs and collect data through the Datacall.
The initial tranche of communities transitioning in 2023 will no longer report residential waste diversion data into the Datacall. Communities continuing to participate in the legacy program will transition throughout 2024 and 2025 and will similarly cease to report into the Datacall as they transition. As such, the 2021 Datacall Report is the final written report published as it was the last full year of data collected prior to the start of the transition. Datacall statistics will continue to be published for the 2022 and 2023 Datacall years for remaining programs.