Frequently Asked Questions

No. All secondary users of the account will be able to access all facilities in the account. Once you create an account for your company, any user associated with the account can setup and manage all facilities under that one account. 

The HWP Registry is equipped with a robust search and filter functionality to make it easier for users within the account to locate and manage the facilities they are responsible for

Full delegation: when generators hire service providers to do all the facility and waste stream management, reporting and fee payment in the registry on their behalf, and they never have to set up accounts or use the registry.  

Partial delegation: when generators want to set up their own account in the registry and pay their own fees, they can still delegate facility and waste stream management and other reporting activities to a service provider.  

Please note delegation is not needed for a service provider to create manifests for your facility. Delegation is needed only for a service provider to help manage a generator’s facility and waste stream information (e.g., register or edit waste streams) or sign off on manifests on the generator’s behalf. 

Comparison of delegation options

Producers are now required to service eligible facilities that were not serviced by the legacy Blue Box program beginning in 2031.

The registration portal is closed until RPRA receives direction from the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks on the transitioning of these facilities.

In the interim, facilities that want to receive Blue Box collection must continue with private collection (or initiate collection with a private service provider, if they have not been serviced before).

If you have further questions, please contact the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

The Hazardous Waste Program (HWP) Registry is unable to issue separate invoices for different facilities managed under one account. However, users can export to excel fee-related details for manifests that have been invoiced and sort it by facility. 

Monthly invoices will include the applicable fees for manifests completed during the previous month and will break fees down by facility. If you need more details about facility-specific activities, you can find that information directly in the Registry. 

See FAQ: What information is included on an invoice for HWP Registry fees? 
See FAQ: Can I submit a partial payment for only the facilities I manage?
See FAQ: Where can I find past invoices in the Registry?

A disposal facility means a facility at which pesticides are disposed of.

See sample invoices here.

The three examples included in the PDF are:

1. Manifest Invoice – Generator Variant (aggregate fees for multiple manifests over a month; includes a facility-level breakdown) 
2. Manifest Invoice – AGD Variant (aggregate fees for multiple manifests over a month; includes a company- and facility-level breakdown) 
3. On-site Waste Activity Invoice (fees for a single on-site waste activity) 

Manifest invoices

• Issued on the first day of each month and will include all manifests completed in the previous month. For example, an invoice issued on February 1 will include completed manifests from January 1-31.
• The primary and accounts payable (AP) user of the account will receive an email notification when a manifest invoice is issued. All users except drivers or manifest-only users can access and pay invoices from the Registry homepage.
• While the manifest invoice provides a total fee for each facility, users can see the fee per individual manifest in two ways:
  • From the “Invoices & Payments” tab under Manifests with Fees   
  • From the “Manifests” tab, by navigating to the Closed Manifests section and opening the manifest

• Note: uses can export to excel fee-related details for manifests that have been invoiced. 

On-site waste activity invoices  

• Issued when the user completes an on-site waste activity report and submits their payment information.
• The primary, accounts payable (AP), and the user who paid for the activity will receive an email notification with payment confirmation.
• All users except drivers or manifest-only users will be able to view paid on-site waste activity invoices from the Registry homepage. 

See FAQ: What payment methods are available?
See FAQ: What is an accounts payable (AP) user and what can they do in the registry? 

The HWP Registry is unable to accept partial payments for invoices issued to an account. Monthly invoices will include the applicable fees for all manifests completed during the previous month and will break fees down by facility. Consider an internal business process to bill back each facility as required.

See FAQ: Can we set up separate invoices for each facility within one account? 
See FAQ: What information is included on an invoice for HWP Registry fees?

An Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA) is a permission issued in Ontario by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks that imposes activity-specific rules to ensure businesses operate their facility, site or system in a manner that is protective of human health and the natural environment.  Activities that may require an ECA include hazardous waste transportation, landfilling, waste transfer or processing, private or municipal wastewater treatment, and general manufacturing.

ECA numbers are used on manifests to identify carrier and receivers in Ontario and to validate that all parties are approved to manage the selected waste stream.  If you are a carrier or a receiving facility, all ECA numbers must be linked to your Hazardous Waste Program (HWP) Registry account.

If your facility is located outside of Ontario, you may have been issued a similar permit or receiver number by your local jurisdiction with respect to your involvement in the handling of hazardous waste. You must link this permit number to your RPRA registry account to complete the receiver information on a manifest.

If the permit number is not accepted in the HWP Registry, please contact the ministry at [email protected] and provide the following information in your request:

• Contact information: phone number, phone extension (if applicable), and email.
• Other jurisdiction approval number (if applicable)
• Role (carrier or receiver)
• Company name
• Mailing address: address, city, postal code/zip code, province/state, and country
• Receiving site information: address, city, postal code/zip code, province/state, and country
• Waste information:
  • List all Ontario waste classes this site will manage, including the three-digit number and waste product name. For more information, please see Appendix A of the updated Registration Guidance Manual for Generators of Liquid Industrial and Hazardous Waste.

Under the WDTA Blue Box program, some municipalities may have chosen to provide Blue Box collection to facilities that were not residences, such as commercial properties, municipally owned and operated buildings or other institutions.

Under the Blue Box Regulation, only certain types of facilities can receive collection under the producer-run Blue Box program. These facilities are:

1. Multi-residential facilities with six or more dwelling units
2. Retirement homes that are operated by a municipality or an entity that does not operate with the purpose of generating a profit or were included in the WDTA Blue Box program on August 15, 2019. “Retirement home” has the same meaning as in the Retirement Homes Act, 2010.
3. Long-term care homes that are non-profit long-term care homes or were included in the WDTA Blue Box program on August 15, 2019. “Long-term care home” has the same meaning as in the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021. “Non-profit long-term care home” has the same meaning as the regulations under the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021.
4. Buildings that contain public or private elementary or secondary schools. “School” and “private school” have the same meaning as in the Education Act.

How you report emergency spills will not change with the introduction of the HWP Registry. You will still be required to notify the Spills Action Centre of the spill, then complete the necessary reporting for that spill in the HWP Registry.  

When you call the Spills Action Centre, they will provide you an emergency generator registration (or EGR) number. With the EGR number, you will be able to register a facility as an EGR facility in the HWP Registry. If you do not have an existing registry account, you will need to create one in order to report the emergency spill in the HWP Registry. 

All spills and environmental emergencies must be reported to SAC before an EGR number can be issued, and the EGR number must be obtained from SAC before any subject waste can be removed from the site.  

For more information, visit: https://www.ontario.ca/page/report-pollution-and-spills.

Producers are legally required to offer collection services to eligible facilities starting in 2031. A facility that did not receive Blue Box collection services under the legacy program but would like to receive Blue Box collection services from 2026 to 2030 must contract directly with a private service provider for private collection.

If your mixed-used (commercial and residential) building is an eligible facility under the Blue Box Regulation, only the residential portion of the building will be eligible for collection services.

Also see our FAQ: Is my facility eligible to receive Blue Box collection services?

The requirement for Blue Box producers to provide collection service to eligible facilities – multi-residential buildings, schools, and specified long-term care homes and retirement homes – in eligible communities that did not receive service under the legacy Blue Box program has been delayed to 2031.

Facilities in communities that did not receive Blue Box collection under the legacy program that want to receive collection between 2026 and 2030 must continue with private collection, or initiate collection with a private service provider if they have not been serviced before.

RPRA will open its facilities registry well in advance of the 2031 start date to allow eligible facility owners and operators to register. Stakeholders can subscribe to RPRA’s mailing list to receive updates.

Eligible facilities that were not serviced under the legacy Blue Box program can begin receiving Blue Box collection services through the producer-run program on the later of the following dates:

• January 1, 2031
• The date the facility officially registers under section 63 of the Blue Box Regulation

For details on specific types of locations, see our FAQ: “What is an eligible facility under the Blue Box Regulation?”

Blue Box materials supplied to the IC&I sector are not obligated, therefore, deductions are available for materials supplied to a consumer in an IC&I setting.

Blue Box producers may deduct materials that are collected from a business or institution where producers are not required to provide Blue Box collection services. Examples include:

• Offices
• Stores and shopping malls
• Restaurants
• Hotels
• Hospitals
• Community centres
• Places of worship
• Recreation facilities
• Sports and entertainment venues
• Universities and colleges
• Manufacturing facilities
• Golf courses
• Cemeteries
• Amusement parks

Producers are responsible for material collected from eligible sources in the producer run Common Collection System, Alternative or Supplemental Collections Systems. Material from these categories is not allowed to be deducted:

• Material that is collected from a residence through a curbside or depot collection service.
• Material that is generated at a facility (including multi-residential buildings, retirement homes, long-term care homes and schools).
• Material that is collected from a public space (including an outdoor area in a park, playground or sidewalk, or a public transit station).
• Material collected under an alternative or supplemental collection system.

Please see the Reporting Guidance Ineligible Source Deductions for the 2026 Blue Box Supply Report for more information on how to determine and use these deductions.

Also see our FAQs: ‘What deductions are available to producers under the Blue Box Regulation?’, ‘Who is a consumer under the Blue Box Regulation’

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, solvents, paints and coatings picked up from a collection site must be processed within three months from the date of the pickup
• Producers must ensure that materials are processed by an HSP processor registered with RPRA. In 2027, producers or PROs on their behalf must use a processor who met, at a minimum, the average recycling efficiency rate (RER) specified in the table below in the calendar year two years prior for the type of HSP:

• Producers of pesticides must ensure that pesticides are properly disposed of at an HSP disposal facility registered with RPRA no later than three months after the day the pesticides are collected.

Only residential Blue Box costs and tonnes are eligible for industry funding. Therefore, the portion of tonnes and costs from IC&I must be accounted for. There are different ways to calculate these allocations, including those listed below.

• For collection, IC&I allocations may be determined by dividing the number of IC&I stops on a collection route by the total number of stops. The number of IC&I stops as a ratio of total stops is a good indicator of costs for collection activities. This allocation may then be applied to all costs and/or tonnes reported in that contract.
• For Non-Blue Box allocations (e.g., if a truck co-collects Blue Box material and organics), costs must be apportioned to account for the collection of an additional waste stream.
• Allocations for processing costs may be based on tonnes. For instance, if a municipality owns a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) that processes Blue Box material from another municipality, the tonnes and costs related to that processing would have to be removed from the reported tonnes and costs.
• Depot costs may be handled in a similar manner, using the proportion of IC&I tonnes to remove ineligible costs. Alternatively, costs could be deducted according to the time that depot staff spend on Non-Blue Box materials, or the percentage of space at the depot allotted to Non-Blue Box materials.

If you are still having trouble allocating IC&I and Non-Blue Box percentages, contact the Authority at [email protected] for assistance.

In the HWP Registry, one company account will be set up to manage all of that company’s facilities.  The company account will have one account administrator and as many additional users as you choose. Each user will have their own username and password.  

Once you create an account for your company, any user associated with the account can setup and manage all facilities under that one account. More information on account types and how to setup an account, will be made available by RPRA closer to November. 

Note: As a generator, if you fully delegate to a service provider (also referred to as an authorized generator delegate or AGD), you will not have to use the HWP Registry. The AGD will set up the facilities that you have fully delegated to them under their AGD account.  

If you partially delegate to a service provider, you will need to set up your registry account yourself, including initial set up of your facilities and associated waste stream information migrated from HWIN. Once you have set up a facility and identified a service provider as a partial AGD through the registry system, the service provider can register and edit your waste stream information on your behalf. 

No. If a facility is closed and/or will not be generating hazardous or liquid industrial waste in 2023 and beyond, you do not need to register the facilities in the HWP Registry.

Also, data from inactive facilities in HWIN will not be migrated to the HWP Registry.

See FAQ: Will HWIN users’ data be migrated to the HWP Registry?

Fees will be charged to generators only, aligning with the current Hazardous Waste Program fee structure.

If full delegation is selected, the authorized delegate that registers the generator’s facility will pay the fees. 

If a generator has partially delegated to a service provider, the AGD can manage and report activities at the generators’ facilities, but the generator will be responsible for paying the fees. 

See FAQ: Will I pay my fees using a prepaid account like HWIN?  

See FAQ: Is there a fee to set up an account in the HWP Registry? 

If you are only providing auditing and training services, you are not considered an AGD under the regulation. However, a generator’s account administrator can add you as a user in the HWP Registry where you can access the registrant’s reporting information. This will support your audit, consulting, and training services. You would be an authorized generator delegate if you are doing reporting on the generator’s behalf under the regulation: registering facility or waste stream information or signing manifests as the generator. 

See FAQ: what is delegation?  

The new HWP Registry has been built to allow draft manifests to be easily created in the new system. Facility and waste stream information can be automatically applied to the manifest through easy lookups and tables, using a web browser or the mobile app. Additionally, manifests can be ‘copied’ for reuse when the same or similar shipments happen more than once.

See below materials showing how to initiate manifests.

• Initiating a manifest as an AGD
• Initiating a manifest as a carrier

See here for manifesting a shipment as a receiver

If you deal with a high volume of manifests, you may wish to make use of the Registry’s external API that allows for automatic integration between external systems and the Registry. Contact [email protected] for more information.

Yes, receivers in other jurisdictions that receive waste from Ontario must have an account in RPRA’s Hazardous Waste Program Registry in order to complete the receiver information on a manifest. Regulation 347: General – Waste Management under the Environmental Protection Act states that a carrier is only allowed to transport subject waste out of Ontario to a receiving facility outside Ontario if they have reason to believe the intended receiver is willing to submit the required receiver manifest information through the registry.

Public and private schools (as defined under the Education Act) may be eligible to receive Blue Box collection service under the producer-run recycling system.

Schools that previously received service from their host community under the legacy Blue Box program will be automatically included in Blue Box collection from their host community and do not need to take any additional action.

Any school that was not previously serviced under the legacy Blue Box program may receive collection service beginning in 2031. These schools will have to register with RPRA. More information will be shared closer to this date.

Also see our FAQ: Is my facility eligible to receive Blue Box collection services?

Not-for profit long-term care homes, not-for-profit retirement homes and Elders’ lodges may be eligible to receive Blue Box collection service under the producer-run recycling system.

If these facilities previously received service from their host community under the legacy Blue Box program, they will be automatically included in Blue Box collection from their host community and do not need to take any additional action.

A not-for profit long-term care home, not-for-profit retirement home or Elders’ lodge that was not previously serviced under the legacy Blue Box program may receive collection service beginning in 2031. These facilities will have to register with RPRA. More information will be shared closer to this date.

Also see our FAQ: Is my facility eligible to receive Blue Box collection services?

Under the producer-run system, residences are eligible for Blue Box collection. Residences are buildings with five or less residential units. Building developments with five or less units are considered residences and will also receive service from the producer-run system.

Townhouses, stacked townhouses or row houses with six or more units may also be considered residences if one of the following applies:

• each unit receives curbside garbage collection, or
• the building uses a common collection point where residents drop off their waste and from which the local government collects garbage.

Townhouses, stacked townhouses or row houses with six or more units that do not meet the criteria above are not eligible to receive Blue Box collection from the producer-run program until 2031, as these types of buildings are considered facilities. To learn more see our FAQ: “Is my facility eligible to receive Blue Box collection services?”

Yes, residents of multi-residential building who used their community depot to drop off Blue Box material because their facility did not have private Blue Box collection can still rely on the existing community depot to drop off Blue Box material.

Community depots operated by producers must be free of charge.

The regulation requires notices to be filed for three types of activities. For details on when notices may be required, please refer to the Ministry’s Handout on Excess Soil Registry:

1. Notice filings for excess soil from Project Areas that can be made by a Project Leader or Authorized Person and may require retaining a Qualified Person. These notices will be required to be filed before soil that will become excess soil is removed from the Project Area. There will be two fillings for each notice:

1. An initial filing before the soil is removed, which will require the following information to be provided:

• • a description of the project and Project Area including the location of each property within the project area
  • the contact information of the Project Leader, Operator or Authorized Person and the person responsible for transportation, and if applicable, the qualified person
  • an estimated amount of the soil that will be generated broken down by quality standard
  • a list of substances/materials that were added to the soil
  • the location of temporary or final sites that the soil will be transported to
  • details of the Reuse Site(s) where the soil will be moved to
  • information on any peer review or certification processes if applicable
  • and a declaration by the Project Leader.

2. A final notice within 30 days after excess soil has been removed from the Project Area or temporary site which will require the following information:

• the amount of excess soil removed from the Project Area that was deposited at: a class 1 soil management site, a class 2 soil management site, a reuse site, a local waste transfer facility, and a landfilling site or dump
• the date on which the last load of excess soil was removed from the project area or temporary site
• a declaration by the Project Leader confirming that all requirements were followed related to the filing of the notice

The Project Leader or Authorized Person is required to ensure the notice filings that are no longer complete or accurate are updated within 30 days after the day the person becomes aware that the information is no longer complete or accurate.

Exemptions

Exemptions from filing a notice in the Excess Soil Registry can be found under Schedule 2 of the regulation.

The Project Leader, Operator or Authorized Person may file a notice after soil that will become excess soil has been removed from the project area if:

• conducting the required sampling and analysis at the project area is impractical
• the soil is removed from the project area and delivered to a temporary site to conduct the required sampling, and
• the Project Leader, Operator or Authorized Person makes sure the required sampling is conducted as soon as the soil is delivered to the temporary site

If soil is removed before a notice is filed in the Registry, the Project Leader, Operator, or Authorized Person is required to ensure that the notice is filed in the Registry before the soil that has become excess soil is transported from the temporary site to the final site.

2. Notice filings for Residential Development Soil Depots can be made by an Owner, Operator, or Authorized Person. This notice will be required before excess soil is deposited on a residential development soil depot site.

The Owner or Operator of the Residential Development Soil Depot must ensure that the quality of the excess soil accepted and managed at the depot meets the applicable Excess Soil Quality Standards set out in the regulation. There will be two filings for each notice:

1. An initial filing before the soil is received, which will require the following information to be provided:
   • the site location
   • the contact information of the Site Owner and Operator
   • the project commencement date
   • the estimated amount of soil (including inventory on-site)
   • the site instrument identification
   • and a declaration by the Site Owner or Operator.
2. A final filling within 90 days of the depot closing indicating the date when the depot ceased operations, and a declaration by the Site Owner or Operator.

3. Notice filings for Reuse Sites can be made by a Site Owner, Operator, or an Authorized Person. These apply to a Reuse Site that expects at least 10,000 m³ of excess soil to be deposited for an undertaking. There will be two filings for each notice:

1. An initial filing before the excess soil is deposited, which will require the following information to be provided:
   • the site location/property type
   • the contact information of the Site Owner and Operator
   • a description of the undertaking
   • the applicable excess soil quality standards for the site
   • the estimated amount of soil by quality standard
   • the estimated dates when the first and last soil load will be deposited
   • the site instrument identification
   • and a declaration by the Site Owner or Operator.
2. A final notice filing within 30 days after the final load of excess soil has been deposited at the Reuse Site which will require the following information:
   • confirmation that all excess soil that will be reused for a beneficial purpose has been deposited at the reuse site
   • the total amount of excess soil that was deposited
   • the date the final load of excess soil was deposited
   • and a declaration by the owner or operator.

The Site Owner or Operator is required to update notice filings that are no longer complete or accurate within 30 days after the day the person becomes aware that the information is no longer complete or accurate.

Exemption:

Reuse Sites that are part of an infrastructure undertaking are not required to file notices, even if they generate more than 10,000 m³ of excess soil.

If a producer or service provider needs to adjust the performance data reported to RPRA, they must contact the Compliance and Registry Team immediately by emailing [email protected]. 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 the Compliance and Registry team.