Between January 21, 2022, and February 4, 2022, RPRA consulted on Stewardship Ontario’s proposal to simplify the fee-setting methodology for Blue Box Program stewards during the program’s transition period between 2023-2025.
On February 17, 2022, RPRA approved the Blue Box Program Transition Plan: Revised Fee Setting Methodology for 2023-2025 Addendum, with conditions. Those conditions required Stewardship Ontario to provide a comprehensive plan for determining the recovery rate of the Blue Box Program through to the transition of the program in 2025.
On May 3, 2022, RPRA approved Stewardship Ontario’s program performance reporting plan, which satisfied the conditions and allowed Stewardship Ontario to implement its simplified fee-setting methodology.
Learn more:
- Approval of Stewardship Ontario’s addendum
- Approval of Stewardship Ontario’s plans to implement the revised methodology
- RPRA’s consultation report
As part of the approval process, the Authority assessed whether the proposed plans were compliant with requirements in the Waste Diversion Transition Act, 2016 (WDTA) and the Minister’s directions and consistent with the Authority’s Wind-Up Guide.
The implementation of the revised fee-setting methodology means that most stewards will not be required to submit detailed material reports to Stewardship Ontario starting this year and throughout the remaining years of the program. For information on the implementation, visit SO’s website. For operational inquiries or questions about reporting requirements and timelines, contact Stewardship Ontario.
To note, this proposed methodology only applies to steward fee setting for the Blue Box Program operated by Stewardship Ontario under the Blue Box Program Plan and Waste Diversion Transition Act, 2016 (WDTA). This does not impact reporting or paying Registry fees to RPRA under the new Blue Box Regulation under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016 (RRCEA).
During the Blue Box Program transition period (until December 31, 2025), stewards will be obligated and have to meet their requirements (e.g., reporting to Stewardship Ontario) under the Blue Box Program Plan and the WDTA and required to meet their obligations under the Blue Box Regulation (e.g., registering, reporting and paying their Registry fee to RPRA). Learn more about the new regulation and producer requirements.
Provide your feedback
Stakeholders submitted feedback on the simplified steward fee-setting methodology by email to consultations@rpra.ca. All feedback was due to RPRA on or before Friday, February 4, 2022.
RPRA considered all feedback received during the consultation in reviewing Stewardship Ontario’s proposal. Read the consultation report.
Background
On August 15, 2019, the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks issued direction to Stewardship Ontario and RPRA to wind up the Blue Box Program and transition it to Ontario’s new individual producer responsibility framework starting on July 1, 2023, through to December 31, 2025.
In December 2020, RPRA approved Stewardship Ontario’s Blue Box Program Transition and Stewardship Ontario Wind-up Plan, with conditions, as well as the Continuous Improvement Fund’s (CIF) wind-up plan, which was included by reference in Stewardship Ontario’s plan.
In October 2021, Stewardship Ontario introduced a proposal to simplify its steward fee-setting methodology for the 2023 to 2025 Blue Box Program transition period. From December 1, 2021, to January 13, 2022, Stewardship Ontario consulted stakeholders on the proposal. Review the consultation materials.
Following the consultation period, on January 19, 2022, Stewardship Ontario submitted its recommendation to RPRA to amend the Blue Box Program Transition Plan to revise the fee-setting methodology. For a full summary of Stewardship Ontario’s consultation process and stakeholder feedback, read their consultation report (appended to the addendum).