Frequently Asked Questions

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• Program: Blue Box

  Topic: Producer

  Toggle the submenu What am I required to do as a Blue Box producer?

  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

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• Program: Blue Box

  Topic: First Nation communities , General , Municipalities , Reporting

  Toggle the submenu Why do municipalities and First Nations have to report under the Blue Box Regulation?

  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.

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• Program: Blue Box

  Topic: Producer , Reporting

  Toggle the submenu If we use a delivery company to mail our products or correspondence, who is required to report on the shipping packaging supplied to the consumer?

  Each Blue Box producer is required to report the Blue Box packaging they add to a product.

  For example: a college or university bookstore plans to ship a book to a consumer in Ontario. The bookstore staff packages the book in a small box with the packing slip and inserts the box into a plastic mailer supplied by the delivery service with the required label affixed.

  In this scenario, the college or university is the obligated producer of the small box and packing slip and must report these materials in their supply report, whereas the delivery company is the obligated producer of the plastic mailer and label and must report these materials in their supply report.

  Also see:
  Am I a producer of Blue Box product packaging?

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• Program: Blue Box

  Topic: Producer , Reporting

  Toggle the submenu What is a beverage container?

  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.

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• Program: Blue Box

  Topic: Collection systems , General , PRO , Processor , Producer

  Toggle the submenu What are packaging-like 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.

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