Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ filtered results:

Program: Lighting

Topic: Collection systems , Management activities , Producer , Registration , Reporting
An exempt producer is not required to:

Register and report to RPRA;

Establish a collection and management system and meet a management requirement; and

Promotion and education requirements.

Exempt producers must retain records related to the weight of lighting supplied into Ontario each year and provide them to the Authority upon request.

See our FAQ to understand “How do I determine if I am an exempt lighting producer?”
Program: Hazardous Waste

Topic: Carrier , Generator , Receiver , Registry

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.
Program: Blue Box

Topic: 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
Program: Hazardous Waste

Topic: AGD , Generator , Registry

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?
Program: Excess Soil

Topic: Registry

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.
Program: Blue Box

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

Based on a producer’s gross annual revenue,

based on the weight of Blue Box materials supplied into Ontario, and

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.
Program: ITT/AV

Topic: About the Authority , Producer

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.
Program: ITT/AV

Topic: Producer , Registration
An ITT/AV producer qualifies for an exemption if its management requirement for a performance period is not more than 3.5 tonnes with respect to ITT/AV or not more than 350 kg with respect to lighting. The producer is exempt from the following:

Registering and reporting to the Authority;

Establishing a collection and management system and meeting a management requirement; and

Promotion and education requirements.

The management requirement percentage increases each year in 2023, 2024, and 2025, therefore while you may be exempt in 2021 and 2022, you might not be exempt in subsequent years. Therefore, a producer must verify that they continue to meet the exemption each year.

If a producer is exempt and therefore not required to register with the Authority, they must retain records related to the weight of ITT/AV supplied into Ontario each year and provide them to the Authority upon request.

Producers are encouraged to confirm their exemption with the Compliance Team at 833-600-0530 or registry@rpra.ca.
Program: Batteries , Blue Box , Hazardous and Special Products , ITT/AV , Lighting , Tires

Topic: About the Authority

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.

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Role definitions