Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ filtered results:
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Program: Batteries , Blue Box , Hazardous and Special Products , ITT/AV , LightingTopic: PRO , Producer , Registry
The Manage PRO option will appear on the dashboard below your list of supply data reports when your supply data reporting is complete and if you have management requirements. If your supply data reporting is below the supply exemption threshold you will not have management requirements, and therefore not need to assign a PRO to assist with your obligations.
Also note that Account Admin are the only portal users that can manage your PRO’s responsibility, so this widget is not viewable to primary and secondary users.
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Program: Blue BoxTopic: PRO , Producer , Registry , Reporting
No, beverage containers are not eligible for this deduction.
The allowable deduction is permitted for Blue Box materials that are deposited into a “non-eligible source,” meaning a place where consumers dispose of Blue Box materials that are not included in the producer-run collection system.
Under the Blue Box Regulation, beverage containers that are supplied to Ontario consumers for personal, family, household or business purposes are obligated Blue Box materials. The inclusion of “business purposes” is unique to the beverage container material category.
Because supplying a beverage container can mean either supplying for “personal, family and/or household purposes” that will likely be consumed and disposed of in a residential context (e.g., a home, apartment, long-term care facility, etc.) or supplying for “business purposes” that will likely be consumed and disposed of in a commercial or institutional context (e.g., a restaurant, college or gym), there are no “non-eligible sources” for beverage containers. All beverage containers must be reported and collected from all sources, whether they are residential, business, commercial or institutional.
See our FAQ to understand “What deductions are available to producers under the Blue Box Regulation?”
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Program: Blue BoxTopic: Collection systems , PRO , Producer
Where an entire community is receiving recycling curbside collection and has access to recycling depots, the requirement is that during transition, that same level of service is still provided. After transition, there is no requirement to maintain depots within these communities.
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Program: Batteries , Blue Box , Hazardous and Special Products , ITT/AV , Lighting , TiresTopic: PRO , Producer , Registry
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.
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Program: Blue BoxTopic: Producer
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.
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Program: Blue BoxTopic: Collection systems , Management activities , Municipalities , Producer
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.
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Program: Blue BoxTopic: Collection systems , Management activities , Municipalities , Producer
Yes, producers are obligated to provide collection services to new single-family residences that come into existence during the transition period.
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Program: Blue BoxTopic: PRO , Producer , Reporting
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
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Program: Blue BoxTopic: Collection systems , Municipalities , PRO , Producer , Registration , Registry
For most producers and for all municipalities, little has changed:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
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Program: Blue BoxTopic: Collection systems , Management activities , PRO , Producer
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.