Frequently Asked Questions

Processors need to provide the following information when registering with the Authority:

• Business information (e.g., business name, contact information)
• Processing site location, contact information and Blue Box materials received and processed at each location
• Any producers or PROs the processor has contracted with

Visit our Blue Box Processors webpage for more information.

1. You will need the following information to create a Registry account:

• CRA Business Number (BN)
• Legal Business Name
• Business address and phone number
• Address of where you work (if different from the main office)
• Contact information for your additional users

2. You will need to provide the address and phone number for each site where you retread and/or process tires.

3. You will need to identify which of the following tire categories are applicable to your business:

• Large tires (over 700 kg)
• Other tires (700 kg or less)

4. If you are a processor, you will also need to identify which of the following materials are applicable to your process:

• Crumb rubber
• Tire derived mulch
• Tire derived aggregate
• Tire derived rubber strips and chunks
• Fluff/fibre
• Tire derived steel/metal
• Other

If your business performs multiple roles (e.g., hauler and processor), you only need to create one registry account and identify the additional roles. If you are a producer, use your producer account to add roles.

A processor is a person who processes, for the purpose of resource recovery, HSP used by consumers in Ontario

You are a Blue Box processor if you process Blue Box material that was supplied to a consumer in Ontario for the purposes of resource recovery.

For the purpose of resource recovery, processing includes, and is not limited to:

• Sorting
• Baling
• Paper and cardboard shredding
• Plastic reprocessing, which includes grinding, washing, pelletizing, compounding, etc.
• Crushed glass reprocessing
• Aluminum and steel reprocessing

See our FAQs to understand “Who is a consumer under the Blue Box Regulation”.

No. If your business does not conduct resource recovery activities as its primary purpose, there is no requirement to register as a processor with the Authority.

As of October 1, 2021, producers, or PROs acting on their behalf, are required to establish and operate a system for managing HSP by satisfying their management requirements as follows:

• All oil containers, antifreeze, refillable pressurized containers, solvents, paints and coatings picked up from a collection site must be processed within three months from the date of the pickup
• Producers of pesticides must ensure that pesticides are properly disposed of at an HSP disposal facility registered with the Authority no later than three months after the day the pesticides are collected
• Producers must ensure that materials are processed by an HSP processor registered with the Authority. On and after January 1, 2023, producers or PROs on behalf of producers shall ensure that the HSP is processed by an HSP processor at a facility in respect of which the HSP processor reported an average recycling efficiency rate for that type of HSP that is at least the percentage set out in the table below

Producers shall ensure that, no later than three months after the day the material is collected, the HSP is processed by an HSP processor who is registered with RPRA.

On and after January 1, 2023, producers or PROs on behalf of producers shall ensure that the HSP is processed by an HSP processor at a facility in respect of which the HSP processor reported an average recycling efficiency rate for that type of HSP that is at least the percentage set out in the table below.

You will have to meet the registration requirements for every category that applies to you.

You are a tire collector if you operate a tire collection site where more than 1000 kgs of tires are collected in a year. A tire collection site is a location where used tires are collected, including:

• Repair shops, garages and vehicle dealerships (where used tires are collected as part of changing tires for customers)
• Auto salvage and recycling sites
• Any other site where end-of-life vehicles with tires are managed

You are not a tire collector if you operate a tire collection site where you:

• Also retread tires or process tires (you would be a tire retreader or a tire processor for those sites); or
• Only collect tires from the on-site servicing of vehicles that you own or operate (such as a site where you service your rental car fleet)

Municipalities can choose to operate collection sites, but they are exempt from registering with RPRA. For more information about municipal sites see: How does the Tires Regulation affect municipalities and First Nations?

No. If a municipality has a private company operating a site on their behalf, the company is not required to register the municipally-owned sites as long as the tires are picked up by a registered hauler and delivered to a registered processor or retreader.

If the private company owns or operates collection sites that are not owned by a municipality, it is required to register and report its non-municipally-owned sites.

To ensure tires continue to be picked up from your sites, you will need to make sure those sites are included in the collection systems established by tire producers or producer responsibility organizations (PROs). Since most producers will work with PROs to establish their collection systems, municipalities should contact a registered PRO.

Visit our webpage about PROs for more information.

No. The Authority does not administer contracts or provide incentives. Under the Regulations, producers will either work with a producer responsibility organization (PRO) or work directly with collection sites, haulers, refurbisher’s and/or processors to meet their collection and management requirements. Any reimbursement for services provided towards meeting a producers’ collection and management requirements will be determined through commercial contracts.

To discuss any payment, contact your service provider or a PRO. RPRA does not set the terms of the contractual arrangements between PROs and producers.

The Authority recognizes the commercially sensitive nature of the information that parties submit to the registry. The Authority is committed to protecting the commercially sensitive information and personal information it receives or creates in the course of conducting its regulatory functions. In recognition of this commitment, the Authority, in addition to the regulatory requirements of confidentiality set out in the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act 2016 (section 57), has created an Access and Privacy Code that applies to its day-to-day operations, including the regulatory functions that it carries out.

Obligated material supply, collection, and resource recovery data will only be made public in aggregate form, to protect the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information.

The Authority will publish the names and contact information of all registered businesses – producers, service providers (collectors, haulers, processors, etc.), and producer responsibility organizations. The public will also have access to a list or method to locate any obligated material collection sites, as this information becomes available.

As part of its regulatory mandate, the Registrar will provide information to the public related to compliance and enforcement activities that have been undertaken.

The information that is submitted to the Registry will be used by the Registrar to confirm compliance and to track overall collection and management system performance. It will also be used by the Authority to update its policies and procedures and by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks for policy development.

No. RPRA is the regulator for the purposes of the new EEE Regulation. Producers and PROs are required to register with RPRA and meet the mandatory performance and reporting requirements under the regulation. RPRA is responsible for overseeing compliance with the regulation and has a range of enforcement tools that include compliance orders, administrative penalties, and prosecutions.

As a regulator, RPRA will not provide collection and management services. Instead, producers will be served by a competitive market comprised of processors, refurbishers, haulers, and PROs. Producers can contract with PROs to meet their obligations under the EEE Regulation, but producers will always remain responsible for meeting those requirements regardless of who they contract with.

As of October 1, 2021, producers, or PROs acting on their behalf, are required to establish and operate a management system and must:

• process all oil filters and non-refillable pressurized containers picked up from a collection site within three months from the date of the pickup
• ensure that materials are processed by an HSP processor registered with the Authority that has achieved the minimum recycling efficiency rate (RER)

Beginning January 1, 2022, producers are required to recover an amount of material based on their average supply into Ontario and report on it starting in 2023. For the purposes of accounting for a weight of recovered resources from oil filters and/or non-refillable pressurized containers with respect to 2022, a producer may count the weight of recovered resources from that type of HSP from October 1, 2021 to December 31, 2022.

No. Municipalities are still required to report the tonnes of WEEE collected. 80% of the material reported counts toward diversion.

A 20% residue rate is assumed for all municipal programs, regardless of whether they receive a different residue rate from their processor.

• A lighting hauler is a person that arranges the transport of lighting used in Ontario that are destined for processing, reuse, refurbishing or disposal.
• A lighting refurbisher is a person that prepares or refurbishes lighting used in Ontario for the purpose of reuse.
• A lighting processor is a person that processes lighting used in Ontario for the purpose of resource recovery.

• An ITT/AV hauler is a person that arranges the transport of ITT/AV used in Ontario that are destined for processing, reuse, refurbishing or disposal.
• An ITT/AV refurbisher is a person that prepares or refurbishes ITT/AV used in Ontario for the purpose of reuse.
• An ITT/AV processor is a person that processes ITT/AV used in Ontario for the purpose of resource recovery.

Yes, a producer, a PRO (producer responsibility organization) on behalf of a producer, or a service provider on behalf of either party, can collect any product or material (including materials or products that are not designated under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016 (RRCEA)). For example, a battery producer may choose to collect batteries that weigh over 5kg; a tire producer may choose to collect bicycle tires; or a Blue Box producer may choose to collect books.

Products or materials that are not designated under RRCEA regulations cannot be counted towards meeting a producer’s collection or management requirements under RRCEA.

If designated materials are co-collected with materials that are not designated, a person must use a methodology or process acceptable to the Authority to account for those materials. Anyone considering this can contact the Compliance Team to discuss at registry@rpra.ca or 833-600-0530.

For example, if bicycle tires are collected at the same time as automotive tires, they must be accounted for separately both when collected and when sent to a processor.

Yes, a Blue Box producer, or PRO (producer responsibility organization) on behalf of a producer, or a service provider on behalf of either party, can choose to offer collection services to any location. Blue Box producers are required to provide collection services to all eligible sources, as well as public spaces.

Blue Box materials collected from locations that are not eligible sources cannot count towards meeting a producer’s management requirement unless they were supplied to a consumer in Ontario. See this FAQ: Who is a consumer under the Blue Box Regulation?

If a person is co-collecting from locations that are eligible sources and not eligible sources, a person must use a methodology or process acceptable to the Authority to account for materials collected from each type of source. Anyone considering this can contact the Compliance Team to discuss at registry@rpra.ca or 833-600-0530.

For example, if materials are collected from an eligible source and a location that is not an eligible source along the same collection route, they must be accounted for separately. When those materials are then sent to a processor, they must also be accounted for separately.

Yes, a Blue Box producer or PRO (producer responsibility organization) on behalf of a producer, or a service provider on behalf of either party, can voluntarily choose to collect Blue Box materials that are not marketed to consumers.

Blue Box materials not marketed to consumers cannot be counted towards meeting a producer’s collection or management requirements under the Blue Box Regulation.

If Blue Box materials that are marketed to consumers are co-collected with Blue Box materials not marketed to consumers, a person must use a methodology or process acceptable to the Authority to account for materials supplied to a consumer or not. Anyone considering this can contact the Compliance Team to discuss at registry@rpra.ca or 833-600-0530.

For example, if Blue Box materials supplied to a consumer in Ontario are collected along the same collection route as Blue Box materials that were not supplied to a consumer, they must be accounted for separately. When those materials are then sent to a processor, they must also be accounted for separately.

See the FAQ: Who is a consumer under the Blue Box Regulation?

If a producer or service provider needs to adjust the performance data reported to RPRA, they must contact the Compliance Team immediately by emailing registry@rpra.ca. Please include the following information in the email:

• The rationale for the change in the data
• Any data that supports the need for a correction (e.g., tonnage purchase or sale contract, audit)
• Any other information to support the change

While it is an offence to submit false or misleading information under the RRCEA, RPRA wants this corrected as quickly as possible to ensure that it has accurate performance data from all registrants.

RPRA can only receive these requests from the primary contact on the company’s Registry account. Your request for an adjustment will be reviewed by a Compliance and Registry Officer.