MHSW Wind-Up Plan

The Authority consulted on Stewardship Ontario’s (SO) proposed Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste (MHSW) Wind-Up Plan from October until November 2019. The Authority accepted feedback on the plan until Thursday, November 21, 2019.

In December 2019, the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks issued a direction letter to the Authority and SO clarifying how MHSW residual funds should be managed once the program winds up.

The Authority approved SO’s Wind-Up Plan on December 27 with conditions, one of which relates to the Minister’s December 2019 direction: “SO shall revise any sections of the Plan that refer to or deal with the management of residual funds to ensure consistency with the Minister’s direction received on December 20, 2019 and shall submit the revised Wind Up Plan to the Authority for approval.”

• MHSW Wind-Up Plan
• RPRA approval of the MHSW Wind-Up Plan
• Consultation Report

The Plan was assessed for compliance with the Waste Diversion Transition Act, 2016 (WDTA), consistency with the Minister’s direction and conformance to the Authority’s Wind-Up Guide.

For more information on the Residual Funds Addendum to the MHSW Wind-Up Plan, view the consultation page.

Background

In April of 2018, the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks directed Stewardship Ontario to wind up the MHSW Program to enable the transition of hazardous or special waste to individual producer responsibility under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016. The Minister directed operation of the MHSW program for all designated materials except single-use batteries to cease on June 30, 2021. The single-use battery program was directed to cease operations on June 30, 2020.

Stewardship Ontario submitted its proposed wind-up plan to the Authority by the September 30, 2019, deadline set by the Minister. Between October and November 2019, the Authority consulted on the plan with municipalities, stewards and other affected stakeholders.

Consultation Process

The Authority held several in-person and webinar sessions over the consultation period that were open to all MHSW Program participants, municipalities, the public and other interested stakeholders.

The Authority’s in-person consultation sessions were held in conjunction with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and the Continuous Improvement Fund (CIF) Fall Blue Box Updates. The Authority, AMO and CIF coordinated these meetings strictly for logistical reasons. AMO and CIF were not involved in the content or design of the Authority’s consultations on the proposed MHSW Wind-Up Plan and the Authority had no role in the content or design of AMO and CIF’s update on the Blue Box Program.

The Authority considered all comments received during the consultation process while approving the wind-up plan. Read the consultation report.

Consultation Materials