Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the lists of registered PROs:

Tire PROs

Battery PROs

ITT/AV PROs

Lighting PROs

Blue Box PROs

Hazardous and Special Products PROs

These lists will continue to be updated as new PROs register with RPRA.

You are a tire producer if you supply new tires to consumers in Ontario and you have a permanent establishment in Canada. New tires are supplied to Ontario in two ways – sold on new vehicles or sold as loose tires. The definition for tires producers (as outlined in section 3 of the Tires Regulation) applies in both cases.

New loose tires that are marketed to consumers in Ontario

• For new tires where there is a brand holder resident in Canada: you are the producer for those new tires if you are the brand holder of the new tires (the legislation defines brand holder to mean a person who owns or licenses a brand or who otherwise has rights to market a product under the brand) and resident in Canada.
• For new tires where there is no brand holder resident in Canada: you are the producer for the new tires if you are the importer of those new tires and resident in Ontario.
• For new tires where there is no brand holder or importer resident in Ontario: you are the producer for the new tires if you are the first person to market those tires in Ontario and resident in Ontario.
• For new tires where there is no brand holder, importer or marketer resident in Ontario: you are the producer for the new tires if you are the person that marketed those new tires and non-resident in Ontario.

New vehicles with new tires that are marketed to consumers in Ontario

• For new vehicles where there is a brand holder resident in Canada: you are the producer for the new tires on those new vehicles if you are the manufacturer of the vehicles (the legislation defines vehicle to include motor vehicles, muscular-powered equipment and trailers) and resident in Canada.
• For new vehicles where there is no manufacturer resident in Canada: you are the producer for the new tires on those new vehicles if you are the importer of those new vehicles and resident in Ontario.
• For new vehicles where there is no manufacturer or importer resident in Ontario: you are the producer for the new tires on those new vehicles if you are the marketer of those new vehicles in Ontario and resident in Ontario.
• For new vehicles where there is no manufacturer, importer or marketer resident in Ontario: you are the producer for the new tires on those new vehicles if you are the marketer of those new vehicles and non-resident in Ontario.

When paying fees to RPRA,  you can select from one of the following payment methods:

• Bank withdrawal (pre-authorized debit)
• Credit card
• Electronic data interchange (EDI; also commonly known as ACH or EFT)
• Electronic bill payment
• Cheque

For instructions on how to submit payment by the method you chose, read one of the following FAQs:

• How do I pay my fees to RPRA by credit card?
• How do I pay my fees to RPRA by bank withdrawal (pre-authorized debit)?
• How do I pay my fees to RPRA by electronic bill?
• How do I pay my fees to RPRA by cheque?
• How do I pay my fees to RPRA by electronic data interchange (EDI)?

To note, Registry invoices are considered due on receipt. Invoices are in CAD funds and payments must be sent in CAD.

We recommend using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge or Apple Safari when accessing the Registry. If you are experiencing an issue with the Registry, try clearing your cache or updating the browser to the latest version.

If you are using a different browser, the Registry will not function.

You should use the address where you carry on business. If you carry on business in more than one location in Ontario, use the main address for your business in Ontario. If you do not have an Ontario address, use the address that relates to the activities you carry out in Ontario.

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?

You are a tire processor if you receive and process tires for resource recovery or disposal. Processing means you are transforming tires into their constituent parts, including by shredding, chipping, grinding, cutting or cryogenic crushing. You are also a tire processor if you engage in activities to chemically alter tires, such as depolymerization.

You are a tire retreader if you replace the tread on worn tires so that they can continue to be used as tires.

You are a tire hauler if you arrange for the transport of tires used in Ontario to a site for processing, reuse, retreading or disposal.

Yes. PROs are private enterprises and charge for their services to producers.

Each commercial contract a producer enters with a PRO will have its own set of terms and conditions. It is up to the PRO and producer to determine the terms of their contractual agreement, including fees and payment schedule.

RPRA does not set the terms of the contractual arrangements between PROs and producers.

No, producers are not required to sign up with a PRO to meet their regulatory requirements. It is a business decision if a producer chooses to work with a PRO, and a producer can choose to meet their obligations without a PRO.

Most producers will choose to contract with a PRO to provide collection, hauling, processing, retreading and/or refurbishing services to achieve their collection and management requirements unless they carry out these activities themselves.

No. A PRO cannot report on behalf of service providers.

Yes. Producers and service providers can enter into contractual agreements with multiple PROs.

No. Section 68 subsection (3) of the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act states that “a person responsible for establishing and operating a collection system shall ensure that no charge is imposed at the time of the collection.”

Program fees are charges that producers obligated under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016, are required to pay to RPRA annually to recover its operational costs, including costs related to building and operating the registry, providing services to registrants, and compliance and enforcement activities.

All current and past fee schedules can be found here.

You may be required to provide a verification report for the annual tire supply report. You will be required to provide verification if you meet the definition of a medium or large producer. Small producers will not be required to submit a verification report, however a percentage of small producers selected annually by the Registrar will be subject to an inspection. If exceptions are identified during the inspection, a comprehensive review may be carried out. For more information on this, read Tires Registry Procedure – Audit.

Effective for the 2025 calendar year, and every year thereafter, producers no longer have collection targets and do not have to collect a minimum weight of used tires.

A producer’s individual management requirement is determined by formulas found in section 12 of the Regulation. See the tables below for details:

Management requirements for all tires

Management requirements for large tires

*For reports submitted in 2024, producers should use RPRA’s manual calculator.

It is important to note that producers must ensure that all collected tires are managed, regardless of what their minimum management requirement is.

Note: Producers with a management requirement below a certain threshold may be exempt from registering with and reporting to RPRA.

See our FAQ ‘How do I determine if I am an exempt tire producer?’ to learn more.

To register as a PRO, contact the Compliance and Registry Team at registry@rpra.ca or call 647-496-0530 or toll-free 1-833-600-0530.

The Tires Regulation states that at least one collection site or event per year is required in a territorial district with a population of 1,000 or more. Read Compliance Bulletin – Tire Collection Systems for more information.

Yes. However, the collection site may only allow up to 10 tires from a person in a single day to be dropped off. If the site is willing to accept more than 10 tires at a time, the site operator is required to record the municipality’s name, contact information, and the number of tires being dropped off. If a municipality chooses not to operate any tire collection sites, residents can be directed to a registered collector.

Contact RPRA’s Compliance Team at registry@rpra.ca, 647-496-0530 or toll free at 1-833-600-0530 if you or your residents have any issues dropping off less than 10 tires to a registered collector’s site.

As a retailer, you may also be a producer and/or a collector, based on the definitions in the Tires Regulation.

Businesses will continue to have discretion over whether they charge a fee to recover the cost of recycling their products. If a business chooses to charge a fee, they are no longer required to provide information about who is charging the visible fee and what it will be used for.

Contact the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks for any information about Environmental Compliance Approvals.

If you collect used tires at your site as a result of onsite servicing of your vehicles, you are not a tire collector for the purposes of the Tires Regulation and you are exempt from registering as a collector with RPRA.

Operators of tire collection sites will have to independently enter into commercial agreements with producers or producer responsibility organizations (PROs) to secure tire collection services. As long as a collection site is part of a producer’s tire collection system, the producer, or their PRO, is obligated to ensure tires are picked up from that site.

Since producers have legal obligations under the Tires Regulation, producers, or their PROs, will need tires to meet their management requirements. While tire collectors (i.e., operator of collection sits) are no longer required to register with RPRA, the collection site must be part of a producer’s collection system for the tires to count toward a producer’s management requirements

A list of registered PROs and producers is available on RPRA’s website on the Find a registrant page.

The Tires Regulation requires producers to submit to the Registry the identity of each tire collector and tire collection site that is a part of that producer’s tire collection system. It is up to each producer, or a producer responsibility organization (PRO) on the producer’s behalf, to identify the tire collection sites that will be used in their tire collection systems.

Tire collectors are required to register and identify their collection sites (i.e., the address for every individual site where tires are collected). The collection site data will be used to populate a list of collection sites that will be available to producers and PROs. Producers, or their PROs, will be required to identify their tire collection systems.

Please read Compliance Bulletin -Tire Collection Systems for compliance guidance to producers who are required to establish and operate tire collection systems under the Tires Regulation.

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. Producers and PROs working on their behalf must operate the collection systems they have established as required by the Regulation even after their requirements are met. If a consumer is refused permission to drop off materials at a registered collection site, they can contact the Compliance and Registry Team at registry@rpra.ca, 647-496-0530 or toll-free at 1-833-600-0530.

A producer responsibility organization (PRO) is not necessarily required to include each and every collection site in Ontario in their collection system. However, producers and PROs acting on their behalf are required to establish and operate a collection system that meets the requirements of the Tires Regulation.

If a collection site operator is unable to be included in a collection system, the operator should contact RPRA’s Compliance Team at registry@rpra.ca, 647-496-0530 or toll free at 1-833-600-0530 for assistance.

Read Compliance Bulletin – Tire Collection Systems for more information. The contact information for all registered PROs is available on the producer responsibility organization webpage.

Under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, the Authority is required to provide an annual report to the Minister that includes information on aggregate producer performance, and a summary of compliance and enforcement activities. Under section 51 of the Act, the Registrar also is required to post every order issued on the Registry.

A producer responsibility organization (PRO) is a business established to contract with producers to provide collection, management, and administrative services to help producers meet their regulatory obligations under the Regulation, including:

• Arranging the establishment or operation of collection and management systems (hauling, recycling, reuse, or refurbishment services)
• Establishing or operating a collection or management system
• Preparing and submitting reports

PROs operate in a competitive market and producers can choose the PRO (or PROs) they want to work with. The terms and conditions of each contract with a PRO may vary.

Collection sites are required to accept used tires that are of similar rim size and weight as the new tires (or tires on new vehicles) that they sell. Use the Authority’s Find a Collection Site map to find a drop-off location and call ahead to confirm that the collection site will accept your tires.

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.

Resident in Ontario means a person having a permanent establishment in Ontario within the meaning of the Corporations Tax Act. A permanent establishment is usually a fixed place of business such as an office, factory, branch, warehouse, workshop, etc. In some cases, a corporation will be deemed to operate a permanent establishment in Ontario. These include cases where:

• The corporation produced, grew, mined, created, manufactured, fabricated, improved, packed, preserved or constructed anything in the province, in whole or in part;
• The corporation carries on business through an employee or agent in the province who has general authority to contract for the corporation; or
• The corporation carries on business through an employee or agent in the province who has a stock of merchandise owned by the corporation from which they regularly fill orders that they receive.
• A corporation will also have a permanent establishment in Ontario if it uses substantial machinery or equipment in the province, or if it is has a permanent establishment elsewhere in Canada and owns land in the province.

For more details about what constitutes a permanent establishment, see the definition of “permanent establishment” in the Corporations Tax Act.

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

To create a Registry account with the Authority, you will need to provide:

• 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 billing contact (this may also be added later)

For regulatory purposes, we need to know your legal name — the name you are incorporated under.  We also need to know your business operating name if it is different from your legal business name to add to our published list of registrants. The list of registrants will be available on our website to allow registrants to interact with one another and to provide information to the public.

For example, if you are a registered collector and your legal name is 123456789 Ontario Ltd. and your business operating name is “Jack’s Garage,” a member of the public looking for a place to drop off used tires will need to know the name you are operating under to identify your location.

Brand holders and producers that supply products and packaging are required by legislation to meet individual mandatory collection and resource recovery requirements and may face compliance and enforcement consequences for failing to do so. The executive attestation ensures that executives responsible for managing the brand holder’s or producer’s business are aware of these requirements and can ensure that appropriate measures are put in place to achieve compliance with the regulations.

Tire collection sites are established to facilitate the responsible recycling and management of used tires. The types of tires accepted at these sites include, but are not limited to:

Examples of Accepted Tires:

• Automobile tires (cars, SUVs, light-duty trucks)
• Motorcycle tires
• Motor assisted bicycle tires (e.g., mopeds, non-kick scooters)
• Tractor tires
• Tires on industrial and agricultural vehicles and equipment
• Transport truck tires
• Trailer tires (e.g., boat trailers, RVs)
• All-terrain vehicle (ATV) tires
• Riding lawn mower tires
• Aircraft tires (if not supplied on an aircraft)
• Snow blower tires
• Small tires (1 kg to <5 kg), such as:
  • Wheelbarrow tires
  • Dolly tires

Examples of Tires That Are Not Accepted:

• Bicycle tires (muscle-powered)
• Stroller and kick scooter tires (non-motorized)
• Power-assisted bicycle tires (e.g., electric bicycles)
• Personal mobility device tires (e.g., wheelchairs, medical scooters)

Tires can be dropped off on or off the rim. Collection sites must accept tires on rims.

Individual Producer Responsibility (IPR) means that producers are responsible and accountable for collecting and managing their products and packaging after consumers have finished using them.

For programs under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016 (RRCEA), producers are directly responsible and accountable for meeting mandatory collection and recycling requirements for end of life products. With IPR, producers have choice in how they meet their requirements. They can collect and recycle the products themselves, or contract with producer responsibility organizations (PROs) to help them meet their requirements.

No. While RPRA is responsible for the oversight, compliance and enforcement of the regulatory requirements for tires under Ontario’s individual producer responsibility framework, RPRA’s activities do not replicate those of OTS.

The Authority is the regulator designated by law to oversee the operation and wind up of current waste diversion programs under the Waste Diversion Transition Act, 2016. The Authority provides oversight, compliance, and enforcement activities with respect to regulations made under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016.

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.

In accordance with the legislation (Resource Recovery Circular Economy Act 2016, section 57), the Authority is required to comply with strict confidentiality requirements. The Authority has also developed an Access and Privacy Code that applies to its day-to-day operations.

The Registry has been developed according to cybersecurity best practice principles. This includes VPN-based restrictions, staff training on all cybersecurity policies, staff access to the Registry on a strict role-requirement basis, and registry interface security features (example: two-factor authentication).

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 volunteer organization is a person who:

• Is a brand holder who owns a brand that is used in respect of batteries or EEE;
• Is not a resident in Canada;
• Has registered with the Authority; and
• Has entered into a written agreement with a producer for the purpose of carrying out one or more producer responsibilities.

A volunteer organization is not a producer but can take on the registration and reporting responsibilities for producers in relation to its brand. Under the Regulation, producers remain responsible for meeting their management requirements and cannot pass off their obligations through voluntary remitter agreements or any other commercial agreement.

Any brand holder or producer who is interested in making any agreement as indicated (or described) above, should contact the Compliance Team at registry@rpra.ca, 647-496-0530 or toll-free at 1-833-600-0530.

You are considered a battery producer under the Batteries Regulation if you market batteries into Ontario and meet the following requirements:

• Are the brand holder of the battery and have residency in Canada;
• If there is no resident brand holder, have residency in Ontario and import batteries from outside of Ontario;
• If there is no resident importer, have residency in Ontario and markets directly to consumers in Ontario (e.g., online sales); or
• If there is no resident marketer, does not have residency in Ontario and markets directly to consumers in Ontario (e.g., online sales).

Even if you do not meet the above definition, there may be circumstances where you qualify as a producer. Read the Batteries Regulation for more detail or contact the Compliance and Registry Team for guidance at registry@rpra.ca or (647) 496-0530 or toll-free at (833) 600-0530.

Producers are required to report single-use (primary) and rechargeable batteries that:

• Weigh 5 kg or less, and
• Are sold separately from products.

Examples include button cells, AA, AAA, C, D, 9V, lantern batteries, small, sealed lead acid (SLA) batteries, and replacement batteries for products such as drills, cell phones, and laptops.

Batteries that do not need to be reported are those that:

• Are sold with or in products (e.g., batteries included with cordless power tools, cell phones, laptops, toys, vapes, fire alarms)
• Weigh over 5 kg (e.g., car batteries, forklift batteries, stationary batteries)

Producers who wish to confirm if they are exempt because the type(s) of batteries they supply do not need to be reported should contact the Compliance Team at registry@rpra.ca or 833-600-0530.

There is no audit verification requirement for the first two supply data reports submitted to the Authority. Therefore, data submitted for single-use batteries supplied in 2018, 2019, and 2020, as well as rechargeable batteries supplied in 2018 and 2019 will not have to be verified in accordance with the Registry Procedure – Verification and Audit.

As shown in the table below, under section 15 of the Battery Regulation, the first supply data report for which there are audit and verification requirements will be submitted in 2022. This supply data report is for single-use batteries supplied in 2021 and rechargeable batteries supplied in 2020.

Yes. You are still required to register with the Authority Registry even if you already have an existing account.

Producer supply data is used to calculate their individual minimum management requirements under the Batteries Regulation.

To learn how calculations are formulated, visit the FAQ How are battery producer minimum management requirements determined?

A producer’s individual management requirement is determined by formulas found in section 13 of the Regulation. See the table below for details:

*For reports submitted in 2024, producers should use RPRA’s manual calculator.

It is important to note that producers must ensure that all collected batteries are managed, regardless of what their minimum management requirement is.

Note: Producers with a management requirement below a certain threshold may be exempt from registering with and reporting to RPRA.

See our FAQ ‘How do I determine if I am an exempt battery producer?’ to learn more.

A battery producer qualifies for an exemption if their average weight of supply for that calendar year is:

• Less than or equal to 2,500 kg of rechargeable batteries, or
• Less than or equal to 5,000 kg of primary batteries.

Average supply weight is determined using the following formula:

Average weight of rechargeable batteries = (Y3 + Y4 + Y5) / 3

• Eg. 2025 average weight of supply = (2022 + 2021 + 2020) / 3

Average weight of primary batteries = (Y2 + Y3 + Y4) / 3

• Eg. 2025 average weight of supply = (2023 + 2022 + 2021) / 3

Battery producers that meet the exemption criteria are exempt from:

• Registering and reporting to RPRA.
• Establishing a collection and management system.
• Meeting management requirements.
• Promotion and education requirements.

Producers must verify that they continue to meet the exemption annually, since their average weight of supply will change from year to year.

Exempt producers must keep records related to the weight of batteries (by category) supplied into Ontario each year and provide them to RPRA upon request.

Producers are advised to confirm their exemption with the Compliance Team at 833-600-0530 or registry@rpra.ca.

Also see our FAQ: ‘How are battery producers’ minimum management requirements determined?‘

As of July 1, 2020, producers are required to establish and operate a collection system for batteries that meets the accessibility requirements in the regulation. Producers must ensure that all batteries collected are managed regardless of their minimum management requirements.

For producers to meet their obligations, they have the choice of establishing and operating their own collection and management system or working with one or more producer responsibility organizations (PROs) that are registered with the Authority.

Please contact the Compliance Team at 833-600-0530 or registry@rpra.ca to discuss other requirements under the Batteries Regulation.

You are an information technology, telecommunications, audio-visual (ITT/AV) producer if you market ITT/AV into Ontario and:

• Are the brand holder of the EEE and have residency in Canada;
• If there is no resident brand holder, have residency in Ontario and import EEE from outside of Ontario;
• If there is no resident importer, have residency in Ontario and market directly to consumers in Ontario (e.g., online sales); or
• If there is no resident marketer, do not have residency in Ontario and market directly to consumers in Ontario (e.g., online sales).

Even if you do not meet the above definition, there may be circumstances where you qualify as a producer. Read the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulation for more detail or contact the Compliance and Registry Team for guidance at registry@rpra.ca or (647) 496-0530 or toll-free at (833) 600-0530.

As shown in the table below, verification of the ITT/AV supply data reported in 2020 and 2021 is not required. Verification of supply data for ITT/AV will be required starting in 2022 for products supplied in 2020. All subsequent years of supply data are required to be verified when the data is reported.

For more information on the required verification and audit of data, view the Registry Procedure: EEE Verification and Audit.

Yes. If you are a producer with retailers or distributors supplying your obligated EEE into Ontario, you can email us at registry@rpra.ca to discuss options on how to report your supply data. There are several options available, including an easy-to-use sales formula and weight conversion factors. See the EEE Verification and Audit procedure for more information.

One option is to have your supply data reported by each of your retailers or distributors on a piecemeal basis. The piecemeal option requires that extra steps be undertaken by you and the Authority. You must contact the Authority in advance if you wish to pursue this option.

Note that even if you have a retailer or distributor providing data on your behalf, it remains the producer’s obligation to ensure that all the required data gets reported and that it is reported accurately to the Authority in accordance with the EEE Regulation. The entry of inaccurate information by someone on your behalf is not a defense to non-compliance.

Yes. You are still required to register with the Authority Registry even if you already have an existing account.

Producer supply data is used to calculate their individual minimum management requirements under the EEE Regulation.

To learn how calculations are formulated, visit the FAQ How are ITT/AV producer minimum management requirements determined?

A producer’s individual management requirements are determined by formulas found in section 14 of the Regulation, summarized in the table below:

*For reports submitted in 2024, producers should use RPRA’s manual calculator

It is important to note that producers must ensure that all ITT/AV collected is managed regardless of what their minimum management requirement is.

Note: Producers with a management requirement below a certain threshold may be exempt from registering with and reporting to RPRA. See our FAQ ‘How do I determine if I am an exempt ITT/AV producer?’ to learn more.

An ITT/AV producer qualifies for an exemption if their average weight of supply for that calendar year is less than or equal to 5,000 kg.

Average supply weight is determined using the following formula:

Average weight of ITT/AV supply = (Y3 + Y4 + Y5) / 3 

Eg. 2025 average weight of supply = (2022 + 2021 + 2020) / 3 

ITT/AV producers that meet the exemption criteria are exempt from:

• Registering and reporting to RPRA
• Establishing a collection and management system
• Meeting a management requirement
• Promotion and education requirements

Producers must verify that they continue to meet the exemption annually, since their average weight of supply will change from year to year.

Exempt producers must keep records related to the weight of ITT/AV supplied into Ontario each year and provide them to the RPRA upon request.

Producers are advised to confirm their exemption with the Compliance Team at 833-600-0530 or registry@rpra.ca.

As of January 1, 2021, producers are required to establish and operate a collection system for ITT/AV that meets the accessibility requirements in the regulation. Producers must ensure that all ITT/AV collected is managed regardless of what their minimum management requirements are.

Producers have the choice of establishing and operating their own collection and management systems or working with one or more producer responsibility organizations (PROs) registered with the Authority to meet their obligations.

Please contact the Compliance Team at 833-600-0530 or registry@rpra.ca to discuss other requirements under the EEE Regulation.

You may have obligations as an ITT/AV producer. To determine if you are a producer, see the FAQ Am I an ITT/AV producer?

If you are not a producer, then under the EEE Regulation you are not required to report supply data to the Authority or anyone else.

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.

No. The list of products obligated under the EEE Regulation is different from the list of products included in the OES Program. The OES Program required producers to report the number of units they supplied, while the EEE Regulation requires producers to report the total weight of products.

To help producers calculate the weight of their products, we have included weight conversion factors in our Verification and Audit procedure, which is included as a weight conversion tool on the registration form.  Once a producer determines the units of products on which they are obligated to report, they can enter the units into the conversion tool to get a calculated weight to report to the Authority.

For more information, see the Determining Supply Data section of the Registry Procedure: EEE Verification and Audit.

Businesses have the choice to recover the cost of recycling their products by incorporating those costs into the overall cost of their product (as they do with other costs, such as materials, labour, other regulatory compliance costs, etc.) or by charging it as a separate fee to consumers.

Environmental fees are not mandatory and are applied at the discretion of the business charging them, including the amount of the fee.

Consumer protection laws in Ontario prohibits the misrepresentation of charges, which means that producers or retailers cannot misrepresent any visible fees as a regulatory charge, tax, RPRA fee or something similar. Consumers who have questions or concerns about a specific transaction or want to report a misrepresentation can contact the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery at 1-800-889-9768.

As of March 2023, the promotion and education requirements related to environmental fees have been removed from the Tires, Batteries, Electrical and Electronic Equipment, and Hazardous and Special Products regulations. No changes were made to the Blue Box Regulation as it never contained promotion and education requirements related to these fees.

RPRA’s compliance bulletin Charging Tire Fees to Consumers has since been revoked and RPRA has ceased its enforcement of promotion and education requirements for visible fees across all materials.

There is no set environmental fee for any product, the amount of the fee charged is decided by the business.

No. An environmental fee is not a government tax and cannot be represented as mandatory, a regulatory charge, or a RPRA fee. It is a fee charged at the discretion of a business to recover their costs related to recycling the product.

If you are concerned about the fee you were charged, you should contact the business that charged you the fee to request a more detailed explanation of how the fee was determined.

Under the Blue Box Regulation, blue box product packaging includes:

• Primary packaging is for the containment, protection, handling, delivery and presentation of a product at the point of sale, including all packaging components, but does not include convenience packaging or transport packaging (e.g., film and cardboard used to package a 24-pack of water bottles and the label on the water bottle).
• Transportation packaging which is provided in addition to primary packaging to facilitate the handling or transportation of one or more products such as a pallet, bale wrap or box, but does not include a shipping container designed for transporting things by road, ship, rail or air.
• Convenience packaging includes service packaging and is used in addition to primary packaging to facilitate end users’ handling or transportation of one or more products. It also includes packaging that is supplied at the point of sale by food-service or other service providers to facilitate the delivery of goods and includes items such as bags and boxes that are supplied to end users at check out, whether or not there is a separate fee for these items.
• Service accessories are products supplied with a food or beverage product and facilitate the consumption of that food or beverage product and are ordinarily disposed of after a single use, whether or not they could be reused (e.g., a straw, cutlery or plate).
• Ancillary elements are integrated into packaging (directly hung or attached to packaging) and are intended to be consumed or disposed of with the primary packaging. Ancillary elements help the consumer use the product. Examples of ancillary packaging include a mascara brush forming part of a container closure, a toy on the top of candy acting as part of the closure, devices for measuring dosage that form part of a detergent container cap, or the pouring spout on a juice or milk carton.

Under the Blue Box Regulation, paper products include printed and unprinted paper, such as a newspaper, magazine, greeting cards, calendars (promotional or purchased), notebooks and daily planners, promotional material, directory, catalogue or paper used for copying, writing or any other general use.

Hard or soft cover books and hardcover periodicals are not considered paper products.

Under the Blue Box Regulation, a packaging-like product is:

• ordinarily used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery, presentation or transportation of things
• ordinarily disposed of after a single use
• not used as packaging when it is supplied to the consumer

Packaging-like products include aluminum foil, a metal tray, plastic film, plastic wrap, wrapping paper, a paper bag, beverage cup, plastic bag, cardboard box or envelope, but does not include a product made from flexible plastic that is ordinarily used for the containment, protection, or handling of food, such as cling wrap, sandwich bags, or freezer bags.

If a producer is unsure whether or not their product is a packaging-like product, they can ask themselves the following questions to help determine whether the product is obligated to be reported under the Blue Box Regulation:

1. Is the product actually packaging around a separate product?
   • If yes, the product is not a packaging-like product. Instead, the product is considered blue box packaging and must be reported as blue box material.  If no, continue to the next question.
2. Is the product used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery, presentation or transportation of a thing(s)?
   • If no, the product is not a packaging-like product. If yes, continue to the next question.
3. Is the product typically disposed of after a single use (regardless if some may wash and reuse it)?
   • If no, the product is not a packaging-like product. If yes, continue to the next question.
4. Is the product made from flexible plastic that is for the containment, protection or handling of food?
   • If yes, the product is not a packaging-like product. If no, the product is a packaging-like product and must be reported as blue box material.

If a producer is still unsure whether or not their product is a packaging-like product, they should contact the Compliance and Registry Team at 833-600-0530 or registry@rpra.ca.

See our FAQ to understand “What is blue box product packaging?”.

Product packaging added to a product can be added at any stage of the production, distribution and supply of the product. A person adds packaging to a product if they:

• make the packaging available for another person to add the packaging to the product
• cause another person to add the packaging to a product
• combine the product and the packaging

For the portion of the product packaging that a brand holder added to the product, a person is considered a producer:

• if they are the brand holder of the product and are resident in Canada
• if no resident brand holder, they are resident in Ontario and import the product from outside of Ontario
• if no resident importer, they are the retailer that supplied the product directly to consumers in Ontario
• if the retailer who would be the producer is a marketplace seller, the marketplace facilitator is the obligated producer
• if the producer is a business that is a franchise, the franchisor is the obligated producer, if that franchisor has franchisees that are resident in Ontario

For the portion of the product packaging that an importer of the product into Ontario added to the product, a person is considered a producer:

• if they are resident in Ontario and import the product from outside of Ontario
• if no resident importer, they are the retailer that supplied the product directly to consumers in Ontario
• if the retailer who would be the producer is a marketplace seller, the marketplace facilitator is the obligated producer
• if the producer is a business that is a franchise, the franchisor is the obligated producer, if that franchisor has franchisees that are resident in Ontario

For any portion of the packaging that is not described above, the producer is the retailer who supplied the product to consumers in Ontario.

See our FAQs to understand “What are paper products?” and “What are packaging-like products?”.

For paper products and packaging-like products, a person is considered a producer:

• if they are the brand holder of the paper product or packaging-like product and are resident in Canada
• if no resident brand holder, they are resident in Ontario and import the paper product or packaging-like product from outside of Ontario
• if no resident importer, they are the retailer that supplied the paper product or packaging-like product directly to consumers in Ontario
• if the retailer who would be the producer is a marketplace seller, the marketplace facilitator is the obligated producer
• if the producer is a business that is a franchise, the franchisor is the obligated producer, if that franchisor has franchisees that are resident in Ontario

No, transport packaging is only obligated when supplied to a consumer in Ontario. Any transport packaging removed by a retailer or other entity before the product is supplied to a consumer is not obligated under this regulation.

No, products or packaging designated as Hazardous and Special Products (HSP) are not obligated under the Blue Box Regulation. For example, primary packaging for paints and coatings are HSP and therefore not obligated as Blue Box materials.

Some packaging for HSP products may still be obligated. For example, the packaging that contains an oil filter is obligated as Blue Box materials.

Consult the HSP Regulation or the Compliance and Registry Team for further information.

The brand holder is the obligated producer.

A marketplace facilitator only becomes obligated for products supplied through its marketplace where the producer would have been a retailer. If the producer is a brand holder or an importer, they remain the obligated producer even when products are distributed by a marketplace facilitator.

A retailer is a business that supplies products to consumers, whether online or at a physical location.

Blue Box materials supplied to a business (e.g., the operators of a long-term care home) are not obligated, however, there are no deductions available for materials supplied to a consumer in an IC&I setting (e.g., a resident of a long-term care home).

Any Blue Box materials supplied to consumers in Ontario are obligated. Blue Box materials supplied to the IC&I sector are not obligated (except beverage containers which are obligated regardless of the sector supplied into).

RPRA does not vet PROs before listing them on the website. Any business that registers as a PRO will be listed. Producers should do their own due diligence when determining which PRO to work with.

Sections 54 and 55 of the Blue Box Regulation require municipalities and First Nations to submit the information in the Initial Report and Transition Report to the Authority.

Under the Blue Box Regulation, producers will be fully responsible for the collection and management of Blue Box materials that are supplied into Ontario. To ensure that all communities continue to receive Blue Box collection services, communities will be allocated to producers, or PROs on their behalf, who are obligated to provide collection services. The information that is submitted in the Initial and Transition Reports will be used by PROs to plan for collection in each eligible community.

The Authority will also use the information provided by municipalities and First Nations to ensure that producers are complying with their collection obligations under the Blue Box Regulation.

It is important that municipalities and First Nations complete these reports accurately so that all eligible sources (residences, facilities, and public spaces) in their communities continue to receive Blue Box collection after their community transitions to full producer responsibility.

There are three reports for eligible communities under the Blue Box Regulation: an Initial Report, a Transition Report and Change Reports.

• The Initial Report will be submitted by all communities in 2021. It will provide an overview of the communities and of the WDTA Blue Box program that operates in that community.
• The Transition Report will be submitted by communities 2 years prior to their transition year. It provides more detailed information about the WDTA Blue Box program that operates in the community.
• Local municipalities and local services boards are not required to submit Change Reports to update information provided in their Initial or Transition Reports. Any changes should be addressed with Circular Materials in their role as the Administrator of the common collection system. Contact operations@circularmaterials.ca for more information.

These reports need to be completed by all eligible communities under the Blue Box Regulation.

An eligible community is a local municipality or local services board area that is not located in the Far North, or a reserve that is registered by a First Nation with the Authority and not located in the Far North.

• The Far North has the same meaning as in the Far North Act, 2010. To determine whether a community is in the Far North, use this link.
• A local municipality means a single-tier municipality or a lower-tier municipality. A local services board has the same meaning as “Board” in the Northern Services Boards Act.
• A First Nation means a council of the Band as referred to in subsection 2(1) of the Indian Act (Canada).

If you are an upper-tier municipality or waste association, these reports must be submitted separately for each eligible community in your program.

Visit the Municipal and First Nation webpages for more information.

Yes, all eligible communities must submit these reports to the Authority. The Datacall is the source of data for determining the net Blue Box system cost and for allocating funding under the Blue Box Program Plan. The Initial and Transition reports are for a separate and distinct program than Datacall and are required under the new Blue Box Regulation, which requires eligible communities to submit these reports.

While some of the required information in these reports was reported to Datacall, much of the information was not. Where there is overlap between what was reported to Datacall and the information that is required in these reports, please see the guidance below on where to find this information in your Datacall report.

First Nation communities interested in receiving producer-run Blue Box services must register with the Authority. To register, communities must submit contact information of the person responsible for waste management in the community using the First Nation community registration form. Once completed, the registration form should be submitted by email to registry@rpra.ca.

Visit our First Nation webpage for more information.

Under the Blue Box Regulation, consumers are individuals who use a product and its packaging for personal, family or household purposes, or persons who use a beverage and its container for personal, family, household, or business purposes.

A marketplace facilitator is a person who contracts with a marketplace seller to facilitate the supply of the marketplace seller’s products by:

• Owning or operating an online consumer-facing marketplace or forum in which the marketplace seller’s products are listed or advertised for supply and where offer and acceptance are communicated between a marketplace seller and a buyer (e.g., a website), and
• Providing for the physical distribution of a marketplace seller’s products to the consumer (e.g., storage, preparation, shipping of products).

Under the Blue Box Regulation, if a retailer (online or at a physical location) is determined to be the producer based on hierarchies, but they are a marketplace seller, the marketplace facilitator is the obligated producer. A marketplace seller is a person who contracts with a marketplace facilitator to supply its products.

As an obligated Blue Box producer, you are required to:

• Register with RPRA
• Report supply data to RPRA annually
• Meet mandatory and enforceable requirements for Blue Box collection systems
• Meet mandatory and enforceable requirements for managing collected Blue Box materials, including meeting a management requirement set out in the regulation
• Meet mandatory and enforceable requirements for promotion and education
• Provide third-party audits of actions taken towards meeting your collection and management requirements, and report on those actions to RPRA through annual performance reports

Yes, there have been some key changes to the producer hierarchies which may affect what a producer is obligated for and should be considered if using data previously reported to Stewardship Ontario:

• If a retailer is determined to be the producer based on hierarchies, but they are a marketplace seller, the marketplace facilitator is the obligated producer.
• Brand holders that are resident in Canada are obligated, which varies from the Stewardship Ontario program where brand holders that are resident in Ontario are obligated.

See our FAQ to understand “Who is a marketplace facilitator?”.

There is an exemption in the Blue Box Regulation for producers whose gross annual revenue generated from products and services in Ontario is less than $2 million. The following sources are excluded for the purpose of determining revenue:

• Government tax revenue
• Property taxes
• General assistance funding received under the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund
• Payments in lieu of taxes
• Canadian or Ontarian government grants available to municipalities with the intent of investing in public infrastructure

There is an exemption in the Blue Box regulation for producers whose gross annual revenue generated from products and services in Ontario less than $2 million. The revenue that counts towards the exemption is revenue from products and services. Charitable donations are not revenue from products and services and therefore does not count towards the exemption. Revenue other than charitable donations that are recorded from registered charities will be considered revenue from products and services.

Under the Blue Box Regulation, there are three types of exemptions that apply to producers:

1. Based on a producer’s gross annual revenue,
2. based on the weight of Blue Box materials supplied into Ontario, and
3. for producers of newspaper

1. Any producer whose gross annual Ontario revenue from products and services is less than $2,000,000 is exempt from all producer requirements under the regulation. In the case where the producer is a franchisor, it is the gross annual revenue of the system that is used to determine if an exemption applies.

Any producer who meets the exemption must keep any records that demonstrate its gross annual Ontario revenue is less than $2,000,000 in a paper or electronic format that can be examined or accessed in Ontario for a period of five years from the date of creation.

See our FAQs to understand what revenues municipalities and registered charities should consider when determining whether or not they are an exempt producer.

2. A producer who is above the revenue-based exemption level may still be exempt from performance requirements (collection, management and promotion and education) if their supply weight is below the exemption levels outlined in the table below.

If a producer’s annual revenue is more than $2,000,000 and supply weight in all material categories is less than the tonnage exemption threshold, the producer is required to register and report.

If a producer’s annual revenue is more than $2,000,000 and supply weight in at least one material category is above the tonnage exemption threshold, the producer is required to meet all obligations (registration, reporting, collection, management, and promotion and education). However, producers are only required to meet their minimum management requirement in material categories where they are above the exemption level.

3. As outlined in the amended Blue Box Regulation (released April 19, 2022), producers of newspapers may be exempt from collection, management, and promotion and education requirements. For the purposes of this exemption, “newspapers” includes newspapers and any protective wrapping and any supplemental advertisements and inserts that are provided along with the newspapers.

For a producer to qualify for this exemption, newspapers must account for more than 70% of their total weight of Blue Box materials supplied to consumers in Ontario in a calendar year. If exempt, the producer is not required to meet collection, management, and promotion and education requirements for all Blue Box materials they supply in Ontario in the following two calendar years.

A producer whose newspaper supply accounts for 70% or less of their total weight of Blue Box materials is subject to collection, management, and promotion and education requirements for all Blue Box materials they supply in Ontario.

The following are the types of Blue Box Materials obligated under the Blue Box Regulation:

• Blue box packaging (primary, transport, convenience, service accessories, ancillary elements)
• Paper products
• Packaging-like products

Producers are required to register with RPRA by October 1, 2021, as outlined in the Blue Box Regulation.

After this date, new businesses are required to register within 30 days of becoming a producer.

Producers are required to provide the following information when registering with RPRA:

• Contact information
• PRO information (if a PRO has been retained at time of reporting), including what services they have retained a PRO for
• Their 2020 supply data in each of the seven material categories– beverage container, glass material, flexible plastic, metal material, paper material, and certified compostable products and packaging material – as well as any deductions.

Please note that this information must be submitted to RPRA directly.

See our FAQ to understand “What deductions are available to producers under the Blue Box Regulation?”

A person is considered a producer under the HSP Regulation if they supply oil filters, oil containers, antifreeze, solvents, paints and coatings, pesticides, fertilizers, pressurized containers or refillable propane containers and: 

• are the brand holder and has residency in Canada 
• import from outside Ontario and has residency in Ontario 
• markets directly to consumers in Ontario (e.g., online sales) and has residency in Ontario 
• markets directly to consumers and does not have residency in Ontario 

A person is considered a producer under the HSP Regulation if they supply mercury-containing barometers, thermometers or thermostats and: 

• are the brand holder and has residency in Canada 
• are the Brand holder of barometers, thermometers or thermostats marketed to consumers in Ontario that do not contain mercury 

A person is considered a producer under the HSP Regulation if they supply fertilizers and: 

• are the brand holder and has residency in Canada 

Even if you do not meet the above definitions, there may be circumstances where you qualify as a producer. Contact the Compliance Team at registry@rpra.ca or 833-600-0530 if you have questions. 

Related FAQs: 

• When and how do I register with RPRA as an HSP producer? 

Starting in 2022, producers are required to report their supply data annually to RPRA.

Each year, producers will need to provide the previous years’ supply data in each of the seven material categories – beverage container, glass material, flexible plastic, rigid plastic, metal material, paper material, and certified compostable products and packaging material – as well as any deductions.

See our FAQ to understand “What deductions are available to producers under the Blue Box Regulation?”

RPRA’s Registry fees cover the costs related to compliance and enforcement and other activities required to administer the regulations under the RRCEA, and building and operating the Registry.

The Registry fees cover expenses in a given year (e.g., 2021 fees cover 2021 expenses). 2021 fees for Blue Box cover the Authority’s costs to undertake activities to implement the regulation in 2021, which include:

• helping obligated parties understand their requirements
• ensuring producers register and report their supply data by the deadline in the regulation
• compliance, enforcement, and communication activities

If a producer is exempt in accordance with the chart below, the producer is exempt from the following requirements:

1. Registration with RPRA
2. Requirements related to setting up or operating a collection system
3. Management requirements
4. Promotion and education requirements

Producer categories use the average weight of material (in tonnes) supplied in Ontario in the three previous calendar years. If you have questions on how to calculate your average weight of supply, contact the Registry Support Team at registry@rpra.ca.

There are only two allowable deductions for Blue Box materials. There are for materials that are:

• collected from an eligible source at the time a related product was installed or delivered (e.g., packaging that is removed from the house by a technician installing a new appliance). This is the “installation deduction”.
• deposited into a receptacle at a location that is collected from a business or institution where Blue Box collection services are not provided under the regulation. This is the “ineligible source deduction” that was expanded by the regulation amendment in July 2023.

Ineligible source deductions:

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, community centres, recreation facilities, sports and entertainment venues, universities and colleges, and manufacturing facilities.

Producers cannot deduct the following materials collected through the collection systems established under the Blue Box Regulation:

• 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 residence through a curbside or depot collection service.
• 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.
• Beverage containers cannot be deducted.

Materials that are deducted cannot count toward a producer’s management requirement.

Please see the Reporting Guidance Ineligible Source Deductions for the 2024 Blue Box Supply Report for more information on how to determine and use these deductions.

A hauler is a person who arranges for the transport of HSP that are used by consumers in Ontario and are destined for processing, reuse, refurbishing or disposal, but does not include a person who arranges for the transport of HSP initially generated by that person

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

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

Yes, there are some key changes to the data reported to Stewardship Ontario and what needs to be reported under the new regulation, which may affect what a producer is obligated for and should be considered if using data previously reported to Stewardship Ontario:

• There are fewer reporting categories than under the Stewardship Ontario program
• Certified compostable packaging and products now must be reported separately, but this category does not have management requirements
• There are only two deductions permitted under the Blue Box Regulation, and producers must report total supply and then report any weight to be deducted separately
• Exemptions are based on tonnage supply under each material category instead of a total supply weight threshold of less than 15 tonnes as in Stewardship Ontario’s program

See our FAQ to understand “What deductions are available to producers under the Blue Box Regulation?”; “Are there exemptions for Blue Box producers?“; “Are there any differences in Blue Box producer hierarchies between the current Stewardship Ontario program and the new Blue Box Regulation?”; and “Are there are any differences in obligated Blue Box materials between the current Stewardship Ontario program and the new Blue Box Regulation?”

The rule and allocation table creation process has been removed from the Blue Box Regulation and is therefore no longer required to create and maintain the system for collecting Blue Box materials across the province, as per regulatory amendments made by the government on April 14, 2022. As such, rule creators are no longer applicable under the regulation. Learn more about the amendments.

To replace these tools, the amended regulation now requires PROs to submit a report that outlines how they will operate the Blue Box collection system on behalf of producers, ensuring that materials are collected from all eligible communities (i.e., communities outside of the Far North) across the province. Learn more about what PROs need to include in the report.

Yes, a producer can change PROs at any time. Producers must notify RPRA of any change in PROs within 30 days of the change.

Account Admins must add any new, or manage existing, Primary Contacts under the program they wish to give them access to in order for the Primary Contact to be able to submit a report (e.g., permissions to view and complete reports).

To Manage contacts on your Registry account, please see the following steps:

1. Log into your account
2. Once you are logged in, click on the drop-down arrow in the top right corner and select Manage Users
3. Under Actions, click Manage to update preferences of existing users
4. Click Add New User to add an additional contact to your account
5. To give reporting access to a Primary Contact, select the program from the drop-down that you would like to grant them access to

No. As of October 1, 2021, it is up to the municipality to decide if they will participate in the HSP Regulation. Those that decide to participate will need to work with a PRO or a producer.

No. RPRA is a Regulator that enforces the HSP Regulation and does not provide or play a role in the reimbursement or compensation of the obligated products. Contact your PRO for further details.

Producers can reference the following chart to determine if they are a small, large or exempt HSP producer. To calculate your average weight of supply to confirm that you are an exempt producer, reference the Registration Form.

Producer categories use the average weight of material (in tonnes) supplied in Ontario in the previous calendar year.

As required under the regulation, Project Leaders, Owners and Site Operators are required to use the Excess Soil Registry to file notices for certain Project Areas, Reuse Sites, and Residential Development Soil Depot sites where Excess Soil is generated, transported, temporarily placed, and deposited.

Project Leaders, Owners and Site Operators can also assign an Authorized Person to file a notice and pay fees in the Registry on their behalf.

Role definitions

Project Leader

In O. Reg. 406/19, the Project Leader means, in respect of a project, the person or persons who are ultimately responsible for making decisions relating to the planning and implementation of the project.

The Project Leader is responsible for ensuring that a Project Area Notice is filed if required. They must always complete and sign the required declarations that are a component of the notice being filed and pay Registry fees.

Owner

A person who owns the land, with an interest upon whose credit, behalf, privity or direct benefit an improvement is made to the premises.

For a Reuse Site or a Residential Development Soil Depot, an Operator may complete all aspects of the relevant notice filing in the Registry.

Operator

A person who has the charge, management, or control of a site. An Operator may be an owner of a property, lease a property or be contracted to operate a Project Area Site, Reuse Site or Residential Development Soil Depot.

For a Reuse Site or a Residential Development Soil Depot, an Operator may complete all aspects of the relevant notice filing in the Registry.

Authorized Person

A person who is authorized by the Project Leader, Owner, or Operator of a site, to complete a notice filing and pay fees on their behalf.

The Authorized Person can initiate a notice in the Registry if permitted to by the Project Leader, Owner, or Operator of a site, and can complete all required notice information and pay applicable fees on their behalf.

Qualified person (QP)

QPs under the regulation have the same meaning as section 5 and 6 of Ontario Regulation 153/04 (O. Reg. 153/04).

Section 5 of O. Reg. 153/04 defines a Qualified Person as professional engineers and geoscientists – these are the persons who may oversee or conduct environmental site assessments or complete certifications in a Record of Site Condition. Section 6 of O. Reg. 153/04 sets out the requirements for Qualified Persons who conduct or oversee a risk assessment.

A QP may be designated as an Authorized Person by the Project Leader or by an Owner/Operator to file a notice to the Excess Soil Registry on their behalf.

The regulation requires notices to be filed for three types of activities:

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 starting January 1^st, 2022, 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.

Exceptions

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.

More information about when this type of notice filing is not required can be found under Schedule 2 of the regulation.

The Project Leader or Authorized Person 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.

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

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 if the depot commences operation on or after January 1, 2022, or if the depot was already in operation when the requirement to file a notice comes into effect, the notice should be filed ahead of January 1, 2022.

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 will be required starting January 1^st, 2022, and apply to a Reuse Site that expects at least 10,000 m3 of excess soil to be deposited after January 1^st, 2022 (including Reuse Sites that were in operation before that date). 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.

Exemptions:

Reuse Sites that are part of infrastructure projects are not required to file notices.

Registry fees cover the Authority’s costs to build, deploy and maintain the Registry, and to provide ongoing support to Registry users. As an administrative delegated authority of the Government of Ontario, the Authority does not receive any government funding and funds its operations through fees charged to regulated parties. The Authority operates on a cost-recovery basis.

Fees are charged upon completion of the initial notice filing, whether it’s a Project Area Notice, Reuse Site Notice, or Residential Development Soil Depot Notice. For Project Area and Reuse Area Notices, there may be a fee charged at the final filing (close-out), depending on whether the volume of soil generated or accepted has increased from what was reported in the initial notice filing.

Fees associated with project area notices are calculated at a variable rate based on the volume of soil being moved. Flat fees will be applied to Project Area Notices for soil volumes below and above certain thresholds.

Fees associated with Reuse Site Notices are tiered, with increasing flat fees applied according to the volume of soil being accepted at the reuse site.

There is one flat fee associated with Residential Soil Depot Notices.

Fees will be consulted upon annually as required by the RRCEA.

In determining whether an obligated producer used best efforts to meet their management requirements, the Compliance Team will consider whether the producer, acting in good faith, took all reasonable steps to meet the requirements outlined in the applicable regulation.

For example, best efforts in the context of management requirements may involve a producer regularly monitoring the volume of material being collected and managed, and implementing plans for increasing those volumes if the requirements are unlikely to be met.

Producers can contact the Compliance Team to ask specific questions about fulfilling their obligations.

As an obligated HSP producer, you are required to:

• register and report annual supply and performance data of obligated materials
• meet mandatory and enforceable requirements for collection and management
• meet mandatory and enforceable requirements for promotion and education
• meet mandatory and enforceable requirements for auditing, verification, and record keeping

These requirements vary based on material type and amount of material the producer supplies.

From October 1, 2021, to December 31, 2022, producers are required to establish the following:

• Collection sites – maintain at least the same number of sites that producers had at the end of the MHSW Program
• Collection events – make best efforts to hold the same number of events in each community as in 2020
• Call-in Service (only applicable to large producers) – provide a phone number for communities to call to request a pickup (of 100 kg or more) if requested by a council of the band, a municipality or a territorial district not located in the Far North, a depot owned or operated by the Crown not in the Far North.

Large producers shall make reasonable efforts to collect the HSP within one year of being notified by a representative of a council of the band located on a reserve in the Far North.

See our FAQ to understand “Am I a small, large or exempt HSP producer?“

As of October 1, 2021, producers of refillable propane containers must establish and operate a call-in collection number for the following representatives to request a pickup:

• a council of the band
• a municipality that is not located in the Far North
• a reserve in the Far North
• a territorial district that is not located in the Far North
• a depot where refillable propane containers are collected, that is owned or operated by the Crown in right of Ontario and that is not located in the Far North

As of October 1, 2021, producers of mercury-containing barometers, thermometers and thermostats must provide a call-in service number for communities to call to request a pickup if requested by the following representatives:

• a council of the band
• a municipality not located in the Far North
• a territorial district that is not located in the Far North
• a depot owned or operated by the Crown not in the Far North

Producers shall make reasonable efforts to collect the HSP within one year of being notified by a representative of a council of the band located on a reserve in the Far North.

Producers of fertilizers have no collection requirements.

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.

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.

Producers of fertilizers have no management requirements.

Producers of refillable propane containers have no management requirements.

Beginning October 1, 2021, producers of oil filters and non-refillable pressurized containers, or PROs acting on their behalf, are required to establish and operate a promotion and education program including the following:

• promote their collection and management services with respect to the type of HSP they are obligated for
• provide the following information on a website with respect to that type of HSP:
  • the location of each HSP collection site established or operated by the producer that is accessible to the public and the types of HSP accepted at each site
  • the location and date of each HSP collection event held by the producer and the types of HSP accepted at each event
  • a description of the collection services provided by the producer, other than HSP collection sites and HSP collection events
  • a description of how the producer manages that type of HSP after it is collected
  • create promotional and educational materials with respect to that type of HSP that include the following:
    • the website URL
    • a description of how that type of HSP is collected and managed
  • the producer shall make the promotional and educational materials available to retailers that supply that type of HSP, municipal governments and Indigenous communities, and shall solicit and consider feedback on how the promotional and educational materials can be improved
  • the producer shall promote each HSP collection event for that type of HSP in the local municipality or territorial district where it will be held for at least one week prior to the date of the event using a combination of two or more forms of media, including but not limited to:
    • local print publications
    • local print media
    • local radio
    • local signage or social media

Beginning October 1, 2021, producers, or PROs acting on their behalf, of oil containers, antifreeze, pesticides, solvents, paints and coatings are required to establish and operate a promotion and education program including the following:

• Promote their collection and management services with respect to the type of HSP they are obligated for
• Provide the following information on a website with respect to that type of HSP:
  • the location of each HSP collection site established or operated by the producer that is accessible to the public and the types of HSP accepted at each site
  • the location and date of each HSP collection event held by the producer and the types of HSP accepted at each event
  • a description of the collection services provided by the producer, other than HSP collection sites and HSP collection events
  • a description of how the producer manages that type of HSP after it is collected
• Create promotional and educational materials with respect to that type of HSP that include the following:
  • the address of the website
  • a description of how that type of HSP is collected and managed
• The producer shall make the promotional and educational materials available to retailers that supply that type of HSP, municipal governments and Indigenous communities, and shall solicit and consider feedback on how the promotional and educational materials can be improved
• The producer shall promote each HSP collection event for that type of HSP in the local municipality or territorial district where it will be held for at least one week prior to the date of the event using a combination of two or more forms of media, including but not limited to:
  • local print publications
  • local print media
  • local radio
  • local signage or social media

Beginning October 1, 2021, producers are obligated to:

• establish and operate a promotion and education program starting in 2022
• provide information on their website about how consumers can use, share and properly dispose of fertilizer with local requirements
• create promotional and education materials that include:
  • The website URL
  • A description of how consumers can use, share and properly dispose of fertilizer
• solicit, consider feedback from, and make the promotional and education materials available to:
  • Indigenous communities
  • Municipal governments
  • Retailers that supply fertilizers
• provide information to municipalities on innovative end-use options for fertilizers as an alternative to disposal

There are no promotion or education requirements for producers of refillable pressurized containers.

There are no promotion or education requirements for producers of refillable propane containers.

Beginning October 1, 2021, producers or PROs acting on their behalf, of mercury-containing devices are required to establish and operate a promotion and education program that:

• Promotes their collection and management services with respect to the type of HSP they are obligated for
• Provides the following information on a website with respect to that type of HSP:
  • the presence of mercury in that type of HSP
  • how to distinguish that type of HSP from similar products that do not contain mercury
  • the hazards to human health and the environment related to mercury
  • how consumers can properly dispose of that type of HSP
  • a description of the collection services provided by the producer under this Regulation for that type of HSP
  • a description of how the producer manages that type of HSP after it is collected under this Regulation
• Creates promotional and educational materials with respect to that type of HSP that include the following:
  • the address of the website
  • a description of how that type of HSP is collected and managed
• The producer shall make the promotional and educational materials available to retailers that supply that type of HSP or similar products that do not contain mercury, municipal governments, and Indigenous communities, and shall solicit and consider feedback from those retailers, municipal governments and Indigenous communities on how the promotional and educational materials can be improved

Producers of every type of HSP are required to keep records for a period of five years from the date of the record being created.

Producers must keep records that relate to the following:

• arranging for the establishment or operation of a collection or management system
• establishing or operating a collection or management system
• information required to be submitted to the Authority through the Registry
• implementing a promotion and education program
• weight of each type of HSP within each applicable category of HSP supplied to consumers in Ontario, regardless of whether information about the weight was required to be submitted to the Authority
• any agreements that relate to the above records

There have been some key changes to the producer hierarchies in the HSP Regulation. This may affect what a producer is obligated for and should be considered if using data previously reported.

Hierarchy change for producers in all categories:

• Brand holders that are resident in Canada are obligated (previously was resident in Ontario)

Hierarchy change for producers of oil filters, oil containers, antifreeze, pesticides, non-refillable pressurized containers, refillable pressurized containers, solvents, paints or coatings:

• Producer hierarchy’s introduction of marketers with or without residency in Ontario

See our FAQ to understand “Am I an HSP Producer?”

The HSP Regulation has 13 materials obligated under it. Materials that share the same obligations have been grouped into categories.

Category A:

• Oil Filters: produced and/or arriving in Ontario, and which are for sale, directly or as part of a product
  a) a spin-on style filter or element-style fluid filter that is sold separately or as part of a product, that is used in hydraulic, transmission or internal combustion engine applications,
  (b)  a filter used for oil, diesel fuel, storage tank fuel, coolant, household furnace fuel, and
  (c)  a sump type automatic transmission filter

• Non-refillable pressurized containers: that are used for the supply of a gas product, including propane, but cannot be refilled

Category B:

• Refillable pressurized containers: that are used for the supply of a gas and can be refilled
• Antifreeze: that contains ethylene or propylene glycol used or intended for use as a vehicle engine coolant
• Oil containers: that have a capacity of 30 litres or less and that was manufactured and used for the purpose of containing new lubricating oil
• Solvents: that are used to dissolve or thin a compatible substance, comprised of 10% or more of water-immiscible liquid hydrocarbons, including halogen-substituted liquid hydrocarbons
• Paints and coatings: that contain latex, oil or solvent-based architectural coatings whether tinted or untinted, non-pesticide marine paints, paints for automotive craft and industrial applications
• Pesticides: fungicides, herbicides or insecticides that are registered under the Pest Control Products Act

Category C:

• Barometers: that contain mercury, are intended for residential use and may contain electronic components
• Thermometers: that contain mercury, are intended for residential use to measure body or air temperature and may contain electronic component
• Thermostats: that contain mercury, and may contain electronic components

Category D:

• Fertilizers: any substance or mixture of substances containing nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium or other plant food, manufactured, sold or represented for use as a plant nutrient and regulated under the Fertilizers Act (Canada)

Category E:

• Refillable propane containers: A pressurized container that can be refilled, has a water capacity of 109 litres or less and is used only for propane

See our FAQ to understand “Is the packaging of antifreeze, pesticides, solvents, paints and coatings obligated?” and “What are the key changes to antifreeze, solvents, refillable pressurized containers, paints and coatings material definitions?”

There have been some key changes to the material definitions which may affect what a producer is obligated for and should be considered if using data previously reported:

• Antifreeze now includes factory fill
• Solvents that are captured by the definition are obligated regardless of how they are marketed
• Paints and coatings now include:
  • All non-pesticide marine paint products, regardless of whether it was contained in an aerosol container or not
  • Aerosol automotive paints
  • Aerosol craft paints
  • Aerosol industrial paints
  • Paints and coatings meeting the definition of this material and being supplied to IC&I are now obligated
• Refillable Pressurized Containers supplied to IC&I are now obligated

The following materials include the product’s primary packaging:

• Antifreeze
• Paints and coatings
• Pesticides
• Solvents

Note: This does not include primary packaging made of corrugated and boxboard boxes, plastic film, shrink wrap or printed materials.

Oil containers, solvents, paints and coatings, fertilizers and pesticides continue to only be obligated when supplied in a container that has a capacity is less than 30 litres or 30 kilograms.

All antifreeze supplied – regardless of container size – must be reported. However, the antifreeze container is only obligated when supplied in a container that has a capacity that is less than 30 litres or 30 kilograms.

See our FAQ to understand “Are containers that are obligated under the Hazardous and Special Products (HSP) Regulation obligated as Blue Box materials?”

Yes. You are required to submit 2018, 2019 and 2020 supply data when registering with the Authority if you are a producer of oil filters, oil filters, oil containers, antifreeze, pesticides, solvents, paints and coatings, refillable or non-refillable pressurized containers and:

• supplied materials between January 1, 2018, and October 31, 2021, and
• your average weight of supply is above the threshold stated in the below table

Otherwise, a producer must register on or before July 31 of the first calendar year in which the producer exceeds the above threshold. To calculate your average weight of supply, reference the Registration Form.

Under the Blue Box Regulation, allowable deductions for producers include Blue Box materials that are deposited into a receptacle at a location that is not an eligible source and where the product related to the Blue Box material was supplied and used or consumed.

This applies to food court restaurants located in a mall or in the base of an office tower. Blue Box materials that were disposed of in the buildings’ recycling receptacles and were supplied and used or consumed within that physical building are an allowable deduction. Blue Box materials that were disposed of in the buildings’ recycling receptacles but were not supplied and used or consumed within that physical building are not deductible.

This does not reduce the obligation of a producer to provide complete and accurate supply data or limit the ability of an Authority inspector to review the data and related records for the purpose of determining compliance.

Excess Soil is soil that has been dug up, typically during construction and excavation activities. It must be moved off-site because it can’t or won’t be reused at the development site.

In December 2019, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (the ministry) released a regulation under the Environmental Protection Act, titled “On-Site and Excess Soil Management” (the regulation) to support improved management of Excess Soil.

This regulation supports proper management of Excess Soils, ensuring valuable resources don’t go to waste and to provide clear rules on managing and reusing Excess Soil. Risk-based standards referenced by this regulation help to facilitate local beneficial reuse promote reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from soil transportation, while ensuring strong protection of human health and the environment. The risk-based standards can be found in the document adopted by reference under this regulation, Rules for Soil Management and Excess Soil Quality Standards.

The ministry is responsible for policy and programs related to Excess Soil and will conduct compliance and enforcement activities under the regulation. More information about the regulation is available on the ministry’s Excess Soil webpage.

For questions related to the regulation, please email the ministry at MECP.LandPolicy@ontario.ca

For site-specific questions related to Excess Soil movement, please contact the ministry’s local district office. To find an office, please use the District Locator.

The Excess Soil Registry is a record of Excess Soil generation and movement established and maintained by the Authority to:

• enable regulated persons to comply with registration and notice filing requirements outlined in the regulation;
• enable the ministry access to notice filings and associated data; and
• enable public access to the information contained in notice filings.

Project Leaders, Reuse Site Owners or Operators, and Residential Development Soil Depot Operators, as defined in the Excess Soil Regulation, are required to ensure notices are filed to the Excess Soil Registry for certain Project Areas (where Excess Soil is generated), Reuse Sites (where Excess Soil is deposited), and Residential Development Soil Depot sites (where Excess Soil is temporarily placed).

Please direct all questions related to the Registry to RPRA via registry@rpra.ca

Yes. The following resources can support you with submitting to the Datacall:

• Datacall User Guide
• Datacall Training Tool
• Checklist: Before you Begin
• Checklist: Before you Submit

The Short-form Datacall is a streamlined version of the Long-form Datacall developed for smaller municipalities. The Short-form Datacall has Section 3.3, and all of Section 5 removed. This means that eligible municipalities do not have to report any Non-Blue Box information. The Short-form Datacall still collects the necessary data for calculating the municipal program’s Blue Box funding (i.e. if a municipal program elects to complete the Short-form, their Blue Box funding will not be affected). Since Non-Blue Box sections are removed, the Authority will not calculate a diversion rate for municipal programs who report into the Short-form Datacall. If a municipal program would still like to receive a diversion rate, then they must report into the standard Datacall.

Through consultation with municipal programs and the Municipal Industry Program Committee (MIPC), a committee of the Authority’s, it was determined that municipal programs with populations of 30,000 or less may be eligible for the Short-form Datacall.

There could be several reasons why you are experiencing a server error in the Datacall.

The best way for us to support you is if you email a screenshot of the error and details of what occurred to datacall@rpra.ca. We will contact you once the error has been fixed, which is usually within the same business day.

The minimum browser requirements are:

• Macintosh: Netscape 6.0+, Firefox 1.0+, Mozilla 1.0+, Opera 8.5+
• Windows: Internet Explorer 6.0+, Firefox 1.0+, Netscape 6.0+, Mozilla 1.0+, Opera 8.5+
• Linux: Netscape 6.0+, Firefox 1.0+, Mozilla 1.0+
• JavaScript and Session Cookies must be turned on

Please note that Firefox is the preferred browser for the Datacall. Some users have identified compatibility issues with Google Chrome and it is recommended to avoid using it as your browser as the view will have missing components.

If this does not fix the problem, contact datacall@rpra.ca.

Yes. A PDF feature is available on the Datacall main page. This feature is offered throughout the entire Datacall submission period, including after the Datacall deadline. You can go back to access previous Datacall years and download the PDF’s.

If there are several users downloading PDFs at the same time, your PDF copy will be emailed to you typically by the end of the day. Select the sections you would like sent and enter an email address to receive the PDF files.

The Datacall automatically calculates a diversion credit for the following:

• The Ontario Deposit Return Program (5.51 kg/capita)
• Used Passenger and Light Truck (PLT) tires (currently 7.1 kg/capita)
• Backyard Composting (100 kg diversion credit for all backyard composters distributed to date) and
• Depending on the implementation of waste reduction policies, for example, implementing garbage bag limits and banning grass clippings at curbside, a percentage of total reported leaf and yard waste tonnage will be used as a credit for grasscycling

Yes. RPRA changes the Datacall record according to audit results, where applicable. All efforts are made to ensure these changes are reflected in the reporting year’s Datacall. Municipalities who were audited will receive a copy of their final audit report prior to the next Datacall reporting deadline.

If you have any questions regarding your previous year’s data, contact datacall@rpra.ca.

No. The Datacall form only marks a page as “incomplete” if there is a mandatory question that has been left unanswered, which is marked as “required”. You must complete required questions prior to moving on to another section.

Your previous years data is visible in sections 2, 3, 4, and 7. Otherwise, you can access your previous data by logging into your previous Datacall, using the following link: https://rpradatacall.ca/datacall2020/

User login information will be the same as what is used for the current year Datacall.

First the Steward Obligation, InKind and Continuous Improvement (CIF) amounts are determined and then the funding is allocated for each municipal program in the MFAM (Municipal Funding Allocation Model). The MFAM uses the following three factors to determine the funding amount for each municipal Blue Box program:

1. Best Practices score from Section 2.4 (accounts for 15% of funding)
2. Recovered Tonnage of Blue Box materials marketed (accounts for 35% of funding)
3. Net Cost of Blue Box program (accounts for 50% of funding)

It is recommended to retain information reported in the Datacall for at least five years. Even if a municipality has been audited before, they may be required to show supporting documentation for costs reported in past Datacalls. Information regarding amortized costs must be kept for the entire amortization period.

If you wish to use the excel upload tool in sections 2.3, 3.1 and 3.2, please download and complete the excel sheet and then email the document to datacall@rpra.ca requesting that it be uploaded.

Alternatively, you can input your data directly into the Datacall website.

The system will default to the contact(s) we have in our records for your program. Contact RPRA at datacall@rpra.ca to update the primary and secondary contacts.

In Question 1, a multi-family household is any unit or apartment in a residential building with six units or more that is served by your municipality or private contractor. You are to report the total number of multi family units and not the number of buildings in your municipality. For example: If your municipality has 4 buildings with 6 units in each building, then report 24 multi-family households.

In Question 2, enter the total number of multi-family households (units) that receive municipal curbside service for each waste stream listed. Do not include any multi-family households that do not receive curbside collection from your program.

In Question 3, report the multi-family and/or single-family households that receive only depot collection.

The recommended sources are:

• Statistics Canada
• Canada Post
• Ministry of Municipal Affairs
• Municipal Clerks Department
• Municipal Finance Department
• Municipal Planning Department
• Municipal Property Assessment Corporation
• The Ontario Municipal Directory

If you use another source, please specify the source in the comment section at the bottom of the page in Section 2.1. To keep data consistent, it is recommended that the same data source used in previous years to also be used in following years.

Yes. Users are able to carry over the number of households from Section 2.1 Populations and Households to various contracts in Section 3. In Section 3 there will be a question (In the Blue Box Tonnes tab and the Materials Collected sub-tab) asking if all of the households in your program receive the same level of service under this contract.

If YES is selected, the numbers from Section 2.1 are automatically imported.

If the answer is NO, then household data is not imported and this section will have to be completed manually.

The Datacall User Guide defines a set out limit as no additional bags/bins/carts being allowed beyond the limit, even if there is a bag tag program or additional garbage fees for extra bags.

You may report expenditures for any of the Blue Box P&E materials that are listed in Section 2.3 of the Datacall. Remember to apply a percentage that accurately represents the portion of the materials related to the residential Blue Box program. Do not report any InKind advertising linage.

Note: Administration staff cost is for the administration of the P&E materials only, and not for the entire Blue Box program. It is important to keep good records on how the P&E allocations were determined in case of an audit, or if RPRA should request it.

To calculate Blue Box P&E admin staff costs there are several steps:

• Determine total admin costs (salary, benefits, etc.) for promotion and education related to waste management and enter it in the first column
  • Determine this cost based on the number of hours spent on P&E, not the total number of total hours for this position
• Determine the ratio of the number of hours of Blue Box specific P&E activities versus total number of hours of P&E for waste management
  • Convert this ratio of hours to a percent and enter it in the second column

Each year, the Authority reviews and grades the responses to the Best Practice questions. Municipalities will receive a Best Practice score (out of 100%) that contributes to 15% of their Blue Box funding. The 2020 relative weights of each Best Practice objective are as follows:

1. Program Performance Projections and Analysis (20.75% of Best Practice Score towards Blue Box funding)
2. Blue Box Efficiency Assessments (12.35% of Best Practice Score towards Blue Box funding)
3. Program Performance Outcomes (33.3% of Best Practice Score towards Blue Box funding)
4. Training of Key Program Staff in Core Competencies (11.23% of Best Practice Score towards Blue Box funding)
5. Blue Box Promotion and Education Achievements and Initiatives (11.23% of Best Practice Score towards Blue Box funding)
6. Development of Effective Policies that Promote Waste Diversion (11.23% of Best Practice Score towards Blue Box funding)

No. Do not include any CIF funding in your operating cost calculations. CIF funding that is used for capital costs should be subtracted off of the total cost reported.

To add a new Blue Box contract, click on one of the existing Blue Box contracts from the list in the Section 3 menu screen/first landing page. This will take you to the contract tab of that particular contract. Then, create a new contract either by selecting a municipality, or by entering the name of a private contractor and click Add.

If a Blue Box contract has expired and there is no data to enter, check the deactivated checkbox in the Section 3 main menu screen/first landing page that lists all Blue Box contracts. Deactivating will automatically complete all of the tabs in that contract.

It is recommended for historical tracking purposes that you do not delete old contracts and instead deactivate them.

Collection

• Public or municipal contract-based collection of or from:
  • Permanent or seasonal single and multi-family households (including rental, cooperative or condominium residential)
    • Multi-family households are defined as residential units in buildings with six or more units (per O.Reg 103/94)
  • Senior citizen residences and long-term care facilities
  • Public and secondary schools collected along a residential collection route, concurrently with residential tonnes
• The residential component of publicly-operated (municipally-owned or contracted) drop-off depots, at dedicated depots, or depots at landfill sites
• Public space recycling containers, if they are collected on a residential collection route concurrently with residential tonnes (tonnes from special events/festivals are not eligible)
• Municipally owned and operated campgrounds can be reported as residential only if there are permanent households or seasonal households, i.e. a trailer park (weekend campgrounds are
  considered IC&I)

Processing

• Public or municipal contract-based collected materials from permanent or seasonal single and multi-family households (including rental, cooperative or condominium residential)
• Collected materials from senior citizen residences and long-term care facilities where the materials are processed at a municipally-owned or contracted MRF
• Public or municipal contract-based collected materials from public and secondary schools, collected during residential collection
• Collected materials from public and secondary schools where the materials are processed at a municipally-owned MRF
• Residential components of publicly-operated (municipally-owned or contracted) drop-off depots, located either at dedicated depots or landfill sites
• Public space recycling containers that are comingled with residential Blue Box materials (e.g.
  bins in public parks) collected along a residential route

To learn more, read pages 9 and 10 of the Datacall User Guide.

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 datacall@rpra.ca for assistance.

Marketed glass may be used for the manufacturing of new containers or used for any beneficial application, such as fibreglass, sand blasting, drainage, filter media and construction projects outside of a landfill.

Alternatively, aggregate that meets Ontario Ministry of Transportation Standards may include glass marketed or used as an aggregate replacement (including aggregate in a landfill road) where the glass is no more than 15% of the aggregate mix as outlined in Ministry of Transportation specifications.

As a collected Blue Box material, #3 Plastics are reported under Other Bottles and Containers (#3, 4, 5, 7).

As a marketed material, #3 Plastics are reported under Mixed Plastics #1-#7, or Commingled Materials.

You answer NO if all the collected and marketed tonnes are reported in the same table.

A depot is any of the following:

• Drop-off site
• Transfer station
• Landfill
• Community collection site
• Special event day site

Depot collection involves residents bringing their materials to a specified location, whereas a curbside program collects materials directly from residential addresses.

Single stream collection is defined as a collection system where all materials are collected in a commingled mixture and there is no pre-sorting.

A multi-stream collection system has at least two or more separate bins for different materials (e.g. a bin for containers and plastics, and another bin for paper/fibers).

In Section 3, you report market tip fees under the Blue Box Tonnes tab and Tonnes and Material Revenue sub-tab next to the appropriate Blue Box material.

Note: Market tip fees are mostly applicable to glass. The Datacall treats market tip fees as a processing cost, so do not deduct market tip fees from revenues.

No. A complete list of Blue Box materials is included in the Datacall User Guide Appendix F.

Note: Blue Box materials are Printed Paper and Packaging (PPP). Report bulky rigid plastics as Other Recyclables in Section 3.3: Non-Blue Box Services.

Under Revenue, indicate if you share revenue by selecting YES or NO in the drop-down menu. If you are a municipality that retains all Blue Box revenue for this contract, answer NO for this question.

If you select YES, enter the percentage of revenue kept by your contractor and the form will automatically calculate the percentage received by your municipality.

If your revenue-sharing agreement is based on an arrangement other than, or in addition to, a percent revenue share, please describe your revenue-sharing agreement in the comment box provided.

Yes. For Blue Box material, RPRA requires the information to be submitted for each individual contract or service provider.

Yes. Enter information separately for each service provider, including any informal agreements with service providers for collection and/or processing of Blue Box materials.

If you process material for another municipality that reports in the Datacall, please do not include tonnage and financial data for that municipality in your Datacall submission.

Instead, report this material as IC&I in your Datacall.

Yes. For all capital purchases (even those reported in previous years), the IC&I and Non-Blue Box percentages must be updated to the current year’s amounts.

The Net Residential Blue Box Cost (grey box on the right) must reflect the portion of the item that was used solely for Blue Box purposes in the current reporting year.

Example: A Depot/Transfer Building was purchased in 2017 for $100,000. 20% of the building was used for Non-Blue Box and 20% was used for IC&I, totaling a Net Residential Blue Box Cost of $64,000. In 2019, 20% of the building was still used for garbage, but only 10% of it was used for IC&I material. To reflect this change in the 2019 Datacall, the 2017 Depot /Transfer Building line item must be updated to 10% IC&I, and 20% Non-Blue Box. The Datacall automatically calculates the Net Residential Blue Box Cost to equal $72,000.00.

Municipalities no longer need to report Non-Blue Box data by municipal or private contract service type.

Instead, this information is to be consolidated and reported as services provided by both private contractors and services provided by municipal staff.

White goods, including small appliances, are to be reported in the WEEE tab of the Non-Blue Box Contracts/Services Section in Section 3.3.

Scrap metal, not including white goods, are to be reported in the Non-Blue Box Services tab – Other Recyclables sub-tab.

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.

This depends on the specifics of the arrangement. Please contact the Authority for further information and clarification at datacall@rpra.ca.

In general, only residential WEEE collected by municipal efforts is reported in the Datacall.

Household shingles generated by your residents can be reported in Section 3.3: Non-Blue Box.

If the shingles are from a business or commercial source (including a private contractor, construction companies, etc.), they must be reported as IC&I because the material is being collected by a business and being brought to a depot/transfer station/landfill as an IC&I material.

If the items are commingled and there is no way to report the tonnes separately, you can report them under Other C&D material.

Section 4  is a summary of data already entered in Section 3. It is good practice to review Section 4 to check for accuracy and completeness.

Yes. The total MHSW tonnage collected may be reported in Section 5 GAP, question K.

The percentage of recycled and reused may be reported in question M.

Question C in Section 5 GAP asks for tonnes distributed for reuse through facilities operated directly by municipality. Full credit is given for reported tonnes in this question.

Additionally, the Datacall asks for tonnes distributed for reuse through facilities to which municipality provides no-charge disposal of residual waste. 10% of any tonnage reported in this field will be counted toward diversion.

Do not report tire tonnes in any section of the Datacall form. Each program is assigned an automatic credit of 7.1kg/cap in the GAP Section 5, question J.

The diversion rate calculated in the GAP summary is unverified.

Do not publish your GAP diversion rate until Datacall verification and analysis has been completed and the diversion rates have been published by RPRA.

As per page 10 of the Datacall User Guide, all IC&I tonnes must be removed from reported tonnages and from reported costs. Page 10 of the User Guide specifies that business improvement areas (BIA), are to be reported as IC&I; however, apartments above these businesses can be included as residential.

We advise to keep a record of how the allocation was calculated. If you would like additional assistance with calculating the IC&I rate on your BIA, contact datacall@rpra.ca.

As per page 10 of the Datacall User Guide, public space recycling containers that are comingled with residential Blue Box materials (e.g. bins in public parks) collected along a residential route, are eligible for Blue box funding. The bins do not have to be permanently placed, so long as they are not special event or temporary bins, they are eligible for funding.

As per page 9 of the Datacall User Guide, public and secondary schools collected along a residential route, concurrently with residential tonnes are eligible for funding.

If a separate or dedicated collection run is made, it is no longer eligible for funding.

If you have a concern about your audit selection, please contact RPRA at datacall@rpra.ca.

No. You are encouraged to continue to report all Blue Box tonnes into the Datacall.

Under the HSP Regulation, producers are required to make reasonable efforts to establish and operate at least as many collection sites for each type of HSP in each local municipality, territorial district or reserve as the number of sites that were operated on September 30, 2021.

Producers are also required to make reasonable efforts to hold at least as many collection events for that type of HSP in each local municipality, territorial district or reserve as the number of events that were held in the 2020 calendar year.

A producer can grant access to anyone they would like to authorize in their reporting (i.e. Registry) portal. Producer reporting must be done in the producer account and batch data transfers are not accepted.

If a producer misreports their supply data to RPRA, they must contact the Compliance and Registry 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., sales documents, 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 to ensure a producer’s minimum management requirement is calculated using accurate supply data.

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.

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, only producers are required to pay RPRA program fees.  The decision to make producers pay fees and cover the Authority’s costs was made to reflect the fact that the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016 (RRCEA) is based on a producer responsibility framework. Although producers may hire service providers to help meet their obligations, the responsibility remains with the producer.

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.

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.

A “Public space” means an outdoor area in a park, playground or beside/on a sidewalk, a public transit station or stop under municipal or provincial jurisdiction, including a track-level stop, to which the public is normally provided access.

During transition, producers are required to collect Blue Box material from public space receptacles in eligible communities that were provided collection service under the WDTA program.

The definition of a “public space” in the Blue Box Regulation is broader than the definition used in the Datacall for WDTA municipal funding purposes. For the purpose of collection services during transition, producers must collect from eligible communities’ public space receptacles collected as part of a communities’ Blue Box servicing that was funded under the WDTA Blue Box program (i.e., those along residential routes).

Under the Batteries, EEE, HSP, and Tire Regulations, a consumer is any end user of a product. A consumer includes an individual who obtains the product for the individual’s own use and a business that obtains the product for the business’s own use.

See our FAQ to understand “Who is a consumer under the Blue Box Regulation?”

No, users that filed notices in the Excess Soil Registry and paid the associated Registry fees before the temporary suspension came into effect on April 21, 2022, were complying with the necessary requirements of the regulation. Notices filed before the pause will continue to be recognized after January 1, 2023. No refunds will be issued.

Projects initiated in 2022 that have continued into 2023 and meet the requirements to file a notice will be required to file as of January 1, 2023. This means that if your project began in 2022 and you are still moving excess soil as of January 1, 2023, you may be subject to the filing requirements.

Read our FAQ to see “Who need to file notices?“

RPRA considers an aerosol container to be a non-refillable receptacle that contains a product and a propellant under pressure, and that is fitted with a release device allowing the contents to be ejected as solid or liquid particles in suspension in a gas, or as a foam, paste, powder, liquid, or gas.

Free riders are obligated parties that:

• Have not registered or reported to RPRA
• Have not established a collection and management system (if they are so required to), or;
• Are not operating a collection and management system (if they are so required to).

See our FAQs to understand “What is RPRA’s approach to free riders?”, and “What do I do if I think a business is a free rider?”

To note:

• Some producers only have requirements to register and report. Please refer to your specific program page on our website to understand producer obligations.
• Collection and management systems may be accomplished by a producer responsibility organization (PRO) on behalf of a producer through contractual arrangements between the producer and PRO. If a PRO is managing a producer’s collection and management requirements, producers must identify that PRO to RPRA.

RPRA takes a risk-based and proportional approach to compliance. This approach focuses on the potential risks that arise from non-compliance and assessing those risks to guide the use of compliance tools and the deployment of resources to minimize risk and maximize compliance. Learn more about RPRA’s Risk-Based Compliance Framework.

As a provincial regulator, we have the following powers to bring non-compliant parties into compliance:

• Broad inquiry powers including authority to compel documents and data
• Inspections and investigations
• Audits
• Compliance Orders and Administrative Penalty Orders (amounts to be set in regulation once finalized)
• Prosecution

RPRA’s primary approach to compliance is through communications (C4C – Communicating for Compliance). RPRA communicates directly with obligated parties and informs them of their requirements and when and how they must be completed. A high degree of compliance is achieved with this approach.

RPRA considers free riders a high priority to the programs we administer and focuses compliance efforts on bringing free riders into compliance with the regulations.

See our FAQ to understand “What is a free rider?”, and “What do I do if I think a business is a free rider?”

We encourage anybody who believes an entity is a free rider to contact RPRA’s Compliance and Registry Team at 1-833-600-0530 or by emailing registry@rpra.ca with information about that entity. RPRA reviews every free rider allegation that is referred to us.

We do not share information about our inspections or progress on specific free rider cases.

See our FAQ to understand “What is a free rider?” and “What is RPRA’s approach to free riders?”

While foam insulating containers were included under the MHSW Program, the HSP Regulation defines a non-refillable pressurized container as a pressurized container that is used for the supply of a gas product.

Foam insulation containers are used to supply an insulating foam, which is not a ‘gas product,’ and therefore they do not meet the definition of a non-refillable pressurized container under the HSP Regulation.

The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks is responsible for overseeing the Hazardous Waste Program and conducting compliance and enforcement activities. The program is set out under Regulation 347: General – Waste Management under the Environmental Protection Act and Ontario Regulation 323/22: Subject Waste Program under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act.

Questions related to the regulations should be directed to the ministry at HazardousWasteProgram@ontario.ca

All information required to be reported under the Hazardous Waste Program and Regulation 347: General – Waste Management will need to be submitted through the new Hazardous Waste Program Registry starting January 1, 2023.

However, the amended Regulation 347: General – Waste Management makes clear that a generator can delegate reporting activities to a service provider, so service providers can submit the required information to the Registry and pay fees on behalf of the generator.

See FAQ: Where can I find information about the Hazardous Waste Program and associated regulations

See FAQ: what is delegation?

More information about the program and the associated regulations is available through the following resources:

• The ministry’s Hazardous Waste Management webpage: https://www.ontario.ca/page/hazardous-waste-management-business-and-industry
• The revised Registration Guidance Manual for Generators of Liquid Industrial and Hazardous Waste.
• Regulation 347: General – Waste Management under the Environmental Protection Act: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/900347
• Ontario Regulation 323/22: Subject Waste Program under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/r22323

HWIN pre-paid balances have not been transferred to the HWP Registry. The regulated community no longer has access to HWIN to manage their accounts and pay fees associated with activities from 2022 or earlier.

If necessary, the ministry will contact generators to address balances remaining in HWIN pre-paid accounts from 2022. The Ministry can be contacted at HazardousWasteProgram@ontario.ca

Read RPRA HWP Registry Fees Schedule

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

The amended Regulation 347: General – Waste Management clarifies that generators can delegate a service provider to submit information to the registry on the generator’s behalf. We call this kind of service provider an “authorized generator delegate” or an “AGD”.

If you choose the AGD role in RPRA’s HWP registry, you must have a written delegation agreement with the generator that appointed you their delegate.

Requirements for written authorizations to delegate, are set out in section 7.2 Delegating Registration and Reporting (section 27.2 of Regulation 347) of the ministry’s revised “Registration Guidance Manual for Generators of Liquid Industrial and Hazardous Waste”.

See FAQ: What is the difference between partial and full delegation?

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

If you are interested in learning more about becoming an AGD, please reach out to RPRA at registry@rpra.ca.  

In terms of setting up your registry account, when creating your account in the HWP Registry, on the “Role Selection” page, users will be able to select the role (or roles) that apply to them, including acting as an authorized generator delegate (AGD).  

Prior to creating an account, selecting the AGD role and submitting information to the registry on your clients’ behalf, you will need to have an agreement in place with your client(s). You should communicate with your generator clients about their ability to delegate to a service provider and prepare your staff to answer questions about delegation.  

Requirements for written authorizations to delegate, are set out in the ministry’s revised “Registration Guidance Manual for Generators of Liquid Industrial and Hazardous Waste”  

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. 

Fees are tied to the activities that generators report on or that are reported on their behalf by authorized generator delegates (AGDs) (e.g., manifests and on-site storage, processing and disposal). Fees will be invoiced on the first day of each month and will include all manifests completed in the previous month.

RPRA consulted industry stakeholders on the 2025 HWP Registry Fees from September 27 to November 12, 2024 and, based on the feedback received, the HWP Registry Fees have been set on the following basis:

• fees is charged to generators only, aligning with the current Hazardous Waste Program fee structure
• the manifest fee has been set at $6, the same rate as today, and will be charged per manifest
• the tonnage fee has been set at $27.50, instead of the past $30 fee, and will only apply to shipped hazardous waste and hazardous waste that is disposed on site which remains the same as today’s framework
• there is no annual registration fee
• all existing fee exemptions are maintained, as per Ontario Regulation 323/22: Subject Waste Program

View the 2025 HWP Registry Fees Schedule

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

No. Fees will be invoiced monthly and will include applicable fees for manifests completed during the previous month. Fees for onsite disposal will be invoiced at the time the disposal activity report is completed. 

See FAQ: What payment methods are available in the Registry?

See FAQ: Who pays RPRA’s HWP Registry fees?  

See FAQ: What information is included on an invoice for HWP Registry fees? 

No, there is no fee to create an account in the HWP Registry. Fees will be tied to the activities that generators report on or that are reported on their behalf (e.g., manifests and on-site storage, processing and disposal).

View the 2025 HWP Registry Fees Schedule

See FAQ: When will I have to pay fees?

A newspaper is a regularly (usually daily or weekly) printed document consisting of large, folded, stapled or unstapled, sheets of paper containing news reports, articles, photographs, and advertisements. Newspapers include broadsheet, tabloid, and free newspaper categories.

Newspapers have traditionally been published in print on low-grade paper known as newsprint. However, not all documents printed on newsprint are considered newspapers. For example, flyers printed on newsprint quality paper supplied separately from newspapers are not newspapers for the purpose of supply data reporting under the Blue Box Regulation.

For the purpose of supply reporting, newspapers include any supplemental advertisements and inserts that are provided with/inserted in them (e.g., a flyer or circular that is placed within the folds of a newspaper). Inserts may be composed of any material including, but not limited to, paper. See the FAQ: How do newspaper producers report their supply of newspapers?

Note that magazines are not considered newspapers; a magazine is a periodical publication containing articles and illustrations, typically covering a particular subject or area of interest, and printed on high-quality paper.

With the removal of the rule creation process and allocation table as the tools to create and maintain the Blue Box collection system, the amended regulation now requires producer responsibility organizations (PROs) to submit a report that outlines how they will operate the Blue Box collection system on behalf of producers, ensuring that materials are collected from all eligible communities (i.e., communities outside of the Far North) across the province.

Circular Materials Ontario and Ryse Solutions Ontario PROs submitted a Blue Box PRO initial report to RPRA on July 1, 2022, that provides the following information:

• A description of how they will comply with the collection requirements of the regulation, including any agreements between themselves and any other PRO
• A detailed description of how they will make collected Blue Box materials available for processing, how materials will be processed, and the expected location of receiving facilities in Ontario
• A description of how they will comply with the promotion and education requirements of the regulation

You can read the news release and the initial report here.

For most producers and for all municipalities, little has changed:

1. Rule creators and the rule creation process, including the allocation table, have been removed. Instead, each producer is responsible for providing Blue Box collection to every eligible source in Ontario and creating a province-wide system for collection.
2. Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) are now required to submit a report to RPRA on how they will operate the Blue Box system on behalf of producers.
3. Newspaper producers whose newspaper supply accounts for more than 70% of their total Blue Box supply to consumers in Ontario are exempt from collection, management, and promotion and education requirements.

The amendments do not change or impact:

• Producer registration or 2020 supply data reporting to RPRA
• Most producers’ 2021 supply data reporting to RPRA
• The materials collected in the Blue Box system
• The communities that receive collection or the collection requirements
• The transition schedule and its timelines

For the purpose of reporting annual supply data under the Blue Box Regulation, the weight of newspaper must be reported in the appropriate material categories. For example, newsprint must be reported in the ‘paper’ category, while any protective plastic wrapping must be reported as ‘flexible plastic’.

Then, producers will be asked to indicate what percentage of their total Blue Box material supply was newspaper, including any protective wrapping and supplemental advertisements and inserts, in that calendar year.

See our FAQs: “What is a newspaper?” and “Who is a newspaper producer?”

In the Blue Box Regulation, certified compostable products and packaging is defined as material that:

• is only capable of being processed by composting, anaerobic digestion or other processes that result in decomposition by bacteria or other living organisms, and
• is certified compostable by an international, national, or industry standard that is listed in this procedure.

All certified compostable products and packaging reported by producers must be certified under one of the following standards:

• CAN/BNQ 0017-088: Specifications for Compostable Plastics
• ISO 17088: Specifications for compostable plastics
• ASTM D6400: Standard Specification for Labeling of Plastics Designed to be Aerobically Composted in Municipal or Industrial Facilities
• ASTM D6868: Standard Specification for Labeling of End Items that Incorporate Plastics and Polymers as Coatings or Additives with Paper and Other Substrates Designed to be Aerobically Composted in Municipal or Industrial Facilities
• EN 13432: Requirements for packaging recoverable through composting and biodegradation – Test scheme and evaluation criteria for the final acceptance of packaging

Starting January 1, obligated parties are required to report on waste management activities, including manifesting, through the online HWP Registry instead of reporting through the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Park’s Hazardous Waste Information Network (HWIN) and instead of using paper manifests. 

The regulated community no longer has access to HWIN to manage their accounts and pay fees associated with activities from 2022 or earlier.

If necessary, the ministry will contact generators to address balances remaining in HWIN pre-paid accounts from 2022.

Yes, producers are obligated to provide collection services to new single-family residences that come into existence during the transition period.

Producers are obligated to provide collection services to new facilities that come into existence during the transition period only if that facility would have qualified for collection services under the WDTA Blue Box Program.

For further certainty, the WDTA Blue Box Program includes collection services for multi-family households (including rental, cooperative or condominium residential), senior citizen residences, long-term care facilities and public and private elementary and secondary schools.

If a receiver receives a shipment with a shipment date in the 2023 calendar year that has an accompanying paper manifest and they have not been notified by the generator or carrier that there is permission to submit paper for that particular shipment, they should contact the generator and/or carrier to explain that the shipment needs to be completed through RPRA’s new Hazardous Waste Program Registry. The paper manifest would not be accepted by the ministry and does not meet the regulatory requirements under the amended Regulation 347: General – Waste Management. Starting January 1, 2023, reporting on waste management activities, including manifesting, is to be completed through RPRA’s new digital registry. 

Note that there may be an exceptional and rare circumstance where a generator has received approval from the ministry to submit paper manifests to the ministry for a time-limited period. The generator or carrier should make the receiver aware of this undue hardship approval. This undue hardship provision is outlined in section 27.1 (1) of Regulation 347 that will take effect January 1, 2023. In this exceptional circumstance, the 2023 shipment can proceed through a paper manifest. 

A brand supply list is a list of brands of obligated products that a producer supplies to consumers in Ontario. A producer must provide a brand supply list that makes up their supply data annually to RPRA. Each program has different requirements regarding how a producer must submit a brand supply list. For more information, consult the applicable programs’ walkthrough guide or contact RPRA’s Compliance and Registry Team at 1-833-600-0530 or by emailing registry@rpra.ca.

A person is considered a lighting producer under the Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) Regulation if they supply lighting into Ontario and:

• Are the brand holder for the lighting and have residency in Canada;
• If there is no resident brand holder, have residency in Ontario and import lighting from outside of Ontario;
• If there is no resident importer, have residency in Ontario and market directly to consumers in Ontario (e.g. online sales); or
• If there is no resident marketer, do not have residency in Ontario and market directly to consumers in Ontario (e.g., online sales).

Even if you do not meet the above definition, there may be circumstances where you qualify as a producer. Read the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulation for more detail or contact the Compliance and Registry Team for guidance at registry@rpra.ca or (647) 496-0530 or toll-free at (833) 600-0530.

See our FAQ to understand “What is lighting under the EEE Regulation?”, “Who is a brand holder?”

• 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.

RPRA will accept a report that substantiates the total Blue Box material weight deductions based on the customer’s recorded response to “Will you eat in or take out?” for all locations. Reports must be retained either in electronic or paper format for five years and be provided upon request for verification by RPRA.

The mobile app, RPRA HazTrack, is available for download through the Apple APP Store and Google Play Store since November 15, 2022, the same day that the HWP Registry launched for account creation. Users have to first create an account in the HWP Registry before they can login to the app. Other app functionalities, such as manifesting, will not be available until January 1, 2023.

As from January 1, the app will allow generators, carriers and receivers to:

• View and sign manifest
• Create new manifests (“parts A and B”)
• Complete manifests (“part C”)
  • Including accepting or refusing wastes
  • Make corrections to the manifest

Users of the web-based application for the HWP Registry will use the same username and password to sign into the mobile application.

For the purposes of the Blue Box Regulation, a beverage container is a container that:

1. Contains a ready-to-drink beverage product,
   • “Ready-to-drink” means a beverage packaged by the manufacturer for immediate consumption that does not require any preparation. A ready-to-drink beverage is intended to be consumed as purchased and does not require a dispensing device to be consumed.
   • “Beverage” means a consumable liquid for enjoyment or hydration. It does not include an “alcoholic beverage”, or “non-alcoholic beer, wine or spirits” as defined in O. Reg. 391/21.
2. Is made from metal, glass, paper or rigid plastic, or any combination of these materials, and
   • If a beverage container is made only of flexible plastic, it would be obligated as a Blue Box material but would be reported under the material category “Flexible Plastic” rather than the “Beverage Container” material category. The Blue Box Regulation defines flexible plastic as unmoulded plastic. For more information on reporting of packaging and beverage containers that consist of multiple materials, please see the “Component Threshold Rule” in the Blue Box Verification and Audit Procedure Registry Procedure.
3. Is sealed by its manufacturer.
   • A cup provided to a consumer in a restaurant filled with fountain pop is not sealed by the manufacturer and is therefore not considered a beverage container. However, the cup (including the lid and straw) would still be obligated as a Blue Box material in the paper and/or plastic material categories.

For greater clarity, the Registrar does not consider the packaging from the following product types to be a beverage container:

• Infant formula
• Meal replacements, nutritional supplements or dietary supplements
• Regulated health products
• Concentrated beverages intended to be mixed or diluted before consumption, such as frozen juices, cocktail mixers, extracts and flavour enhancers
• Liquids that are not intended to be consumed as purchased such as soup, syrups, cream and other beverage additives, whipping cream, buttermilk, broth
• Beverage containers made of flexible plastics such as milk bags (these are still to be reported as flexible plastics)

Milk products and substitutes (e.g., soy beverage, almond beverage, a rigid plastic container of milk, drinkable yogurt) are beverage containers provided they are packaged in a container as defined above.

The mobile app will be inaccessible if the user has logged out of the mobile app and the user is offline, as you need a network connection to log into the app. If the user stays logged into the mobile app, they will be able to use the app offline. It is advised that drivers/users stay logged into the app, or log in before going out of an internet zone, to ensure they can always use offline mode.

In the Manage PRO section in the Registry, the “Service End Date” is not a mandatory field. You can leave this field blank if there is no end date in your contract. If you decide to change PROs in the future, you can update this field to the date your agreement ended with that PRO.

The mobile app supports offline reporting. The mobile app will be inaccessible if the user has logged out of the mobile app and the user is offline, as you need a network connection to log into the app. However, if the user stays logged into the mobile app, they will be able to use the app offline. It is advised that drivers/users stay logged into the app or log in before going out of an internet zone, to ensure they can always use offline mode. 

Information that is reported through the mobile app while offline will be replicated in the desktop application (once the user has internet connection again) because of the live synchronization between the two platforms. See our demo video that highlights this functionality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fN2DPzGc9I&t=8s.  

To note: users can stay logged into the mobile app for 72 hours.

In the HWP Registry, users will be able to access, download and print a PDF version of their manifest. RPRA has worked with Transport Canada to ensure the printable PDF complies with the Transportation of Dangerous Goods (TDG) requirements in most cases.   

For more information about your TDG requirements, visit: https://tc.canada.ca/en/dangerous-goods/transportation-dangerous-goods-canada.

Regulation 347: General – Waste Management outlines the requirement for the regulated community to maintain a copy of paper manifests for a period of two years, for manifests that are applicable prior to January 1, 2023. 

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?

Generators can log into the HWP Registry at any time to see the status of all their manifests from the homepage. From there, they will be able to use filters to only show manifests that require their action (e.g., signature required).

No. The rules in Regulation 347 related to who is responsible for reporting information about hazardous waste activities are not changing. Although generators can delegate service providers to submit all information on their behalf, the amended regulation makes clear that, “A generator who has entered into an agreement with a delegate through a written authorization remains responsible for meeting their requirements under this Regulation, including requirements to report, update and ensure the accuracy of all information submitted through the Registry.” 

No, RPRA does not have a list of companies. We recommend that generators reach out to their current service providers to ask if they will be providing delegation services.

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? 

Yes. The new Subject Waste Program Regulation under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016, preserves and clarifies existing Hazardous Waste Program fee exemptions, which RPRA must follow when recovering the cost to operate the HWP Registry.  

Existing exemptions include:  

• Municipal hazardous or special waste 
• Contaminated sites 
• Emergencies (spills) 
• Tonnage-fee exempt recycling facilities 

Only hazardous waste from facilities and waste streams that are set up in the new registry can be shipped, stored, processed, or disposed as of January 1, 2023. Generators, carriers, and receivers must have an account in the new registry to be listed on a manifest, create, edit or sign manifests, or report on-site waste activities, among other activities.

Creating an account is easy and straightforward. To make it easier, have the generator numbers, HWIN usernames and Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA) numbers for your business readily available.  

The HWP Registry and the mobile app were built and tested by RPRA staff, ministry staff, industry stakeholders and external technology vendors to be efficient and user-friendly. To set up an account, follow the steps below:

• Go to registry.rpra.ca
• Click the Create New Account link if you do not already have a registry account
• Enter your business contact information
• Enroll in the Hazardous Waste Program Registry as a generator, carrier, receiver or Authorized Generator Delegate (AGD). An email will then be sent with instructions to activate your account

Check out these step-by-step instructions for account creation and retrieving HWIN data.

Carriers and receivers can link existing environmental compliance approval (ECA) numbers to their account. Check out this “how-to” video to link your ECA numbers.

If you have been authorized to act as a full delegate, you should have the generator numbers and HWIN usernames for each of your clients. If acting as a partial delegate, please reach out to new clients to ensure they have their accounts and facilities set up.