On August 15, 2019, the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks issued direction to RPRA and Stewardship Ontario to begin transitioning Ontario’s legacy Blue Box Program to the new producer responsibility regulatory framework outlined in the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016 (RRCEA) and its associated regulations.
This meant that the legacy program, which was funded approximately 50% by municipalities and 50% by producers (or stewards) and fully operated by municipalities, would be 100% funded and fully operated by producers.
On June 3, 2021, the Government of Ontario released the Blue Box Regulation under the RRCEA outlining requirements for producers to establish and operate the new Blue Box Program. Visit our New Blue Box Program page for information about the producer funded and operated program, including what materials are obligated, regulatory requirements for specific roles (e.g. producer, PRO, processor, municipality, First Nation community), key dates and deadlines, and FAQs.
The regulation set the transition period between July 1, 2023 and December 31, 2025. During this time, communities participating in the legacy program would transition to the new program according to the Blue Box Transition Schedule (updated February 23, 2024).
Stewardship Ontario will continue to operate the legacy Blue Box Program without disruption for those communities that have not yet transitioned into the producer-run program. Please continue to contact them directly for any operational inquiries related to the legacy Blue Box Program at werecycle@stewardshipontario.ca.
Under the Waste Diversion Transition Act, 2016 (WDTA), RPRA is responsible for overseeing the orderly wind up of legacy waste diversion programs and the industry funding organizations responsible for managing those programs, including the legacy Blue Box Program and Stewardship Ontario.