Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ filtered results:
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Program: Batteries , Blue Box , Hazardous and Special Products , ITT/AV , Lighting , TiresTopic: Producer , Registration , Reporting , RPRA Program and Registry Fees
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.
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Program: Blue Box , TiresTopic: Collection systems , Management activities , PRO , Producer
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.
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Program: Blue BoxTopic: Producer , Reporting
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.
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Program: Blue BoxTopic: Management activities , PRO , Producer
A producer’s management requirement is how much Blue Box material they must ensure is collected and processed into recovered resources each year. Management requirements are calculated based on what they supplied into Ontario two years prior and the resource recovery percentage as set in the regulation. A producer’s management requirement is calculated separately for each Blue Box material category (beverage container, glass, flexible plastic, rigid plastic, metal and paper).
Some producer are exempt from having a management requirement based on their supply data, for more information on exemptions see the FAQ Are there exemptions for Blue Box producers? A producer that does not have a management requirement does not have any collection, management or promotion and education obligations.
A producer with a management requirement must also provide collection and promotion and education services in Ontario. Most producers will contract the services of a producer responsibility organization (PRO) to meet their collection, management and promotion and education obligations.
To view your management requirement(s), log into your registry account, download a copy of your Blue Box Supply Report and review the section with your minimum management requirements. Management requirement for a given year are determine by supply data from two years prior. For example, 2023 management requirements were based on 2021 supply data (submitted in producers’ 2022 Supply Report).
Unsure if you are a Blue Box producer? See our FAQs Am I a producer of Blue Box product packaging? And Am I a producer of paper products and packaging-like products?
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Program: Blue BoxTopic: Producer , Reporting
For the purposes of supply data reporting, ‘refillable packaging’ is defined as packaging surrounding a supplied product that a consumer can return to the product manufacturer for cleaning and reuse.
A producer who supplies its products in refillable packaging should only report weights (under the appropriate material category) the first time the packaging is supplied to consumers.
For example:
A milk producer that used 1000 new glass bottles to supply its product to consumers in 2022, reported the weight of all 1000 bottles under the beverage container category in their 2023 supply data report.
In 2023, the producer added 500 new glass bottles to its supply, bringing the total of supplied material to 1500 bottles. Their 2024 supply data report should only reflect the weights of the 500 new bottles, not the total currently being used by the producer (1500).
Important: Products supplied in beverage containers should be reported in the ‘beverage container’ category, not the category the container is made of (plastic, metal, glass).
See Compliance Bulletin: What blue box materials need to be reported?
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Program: Batteries , Blue Box , ITT/AV , Lighting , TiresTopic: General , Management activities , Producer
Producers are not required to collect and manage their own branded products and materials. Instead, a producer is expected to collect and manage a portion of similar materials in Ontario. The portion of material that a producer collects and manages is known as their minimum management requirement. A minimum management requirement, which is set based on calculations outlined in the applicable Regulation, is the weight of the products or packaging that the producer must ensure is collected and managed. The calculated amount is proportionate to the weight of materials that producer supplied into the province.
For example, a producer who supplied laptops into Ontario does not need to collect and manage their own branded laptops. Instead, they must ensure that they collect and manage an equivalent weight of information technology, telecommunications, and audio-visual equipment (ITT/AV) materials.
Similarly, a producer who supplied cardboard boxes into Ontario does not need to collect and manage those exact cardboard boxes. Rather, they need to ensure that an equivalent weight of paper is collected and managed.
Almost all producers will work with producer responsibility organizations (PROs) for the purposes of meeting their obligations to collect and manage materials. PROs establish collection and management systems across Ontario for different material types. A producer can meet their obligations to collect and manage materials by entering into a contract with a PRO to provide these services on their behalf.
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Program: Blue BoxTopic: Producer , Reporting
Yes, producers are legally required to register and report to RPRA. There are some differences between which materials were reported to Stewardship Ontario as a steward and what must now be reported to RPRA as a producer. Differences include:
- newly obligated materials
- brand holder in Canada now obligated (rather than Ontario)
- producer must report total supply, and then report any weight to be deducted separately.
During transition years, stewards must meet their requirements (e.g., paying fees to Stewardship Ontario) under the Blue Box Program Plan and the WDTA. Producers also have requirements under the new Blue Box Regulation and the RRCEA, which includes registering, reporting, paying their program fee to RPRA and establishing collection, management and promotion and education systems for Blue Box materials.
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Program: Batteries , Blue Box , Hazardous and Special Products , ITT/AV , Lighting , TiresTopic: Producer
A brand is any mark, word, name, symbol, design, device or graphical element, or a combination thereof, including a registered or unregistered trademark, which identifies a product and distinguishes it from other products.
A brand holder is a person who owns or licenses a brand or otherwise has rights to market a product under the brand.
Note:
- If there are two or more brand holders, the producer most directly connected to the production of the material is the brand holder.
- If more than one material produced by different brand holders are marketed as a single package, the producer who is more directly connected to the primary product in the package is the brand holder.
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Program: Batteries , Blue Box , Hazardous and Special Products , ITT/AVTopic: PRO , Producer , Registry , Reporting
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.
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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