A producer responsibility organization, or 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 Blue Box Regulation, including:
- Arranging, establishing or operating a collection or management system
- Arranging, establishing or operating promotion and education system
- Preparing and submitting reports
- Representing a producer for any purpose under the regulation
A processor retained by a producer solely for the purposes of processing Blue Box material is not a PRO.
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.
2022 Blue Box Regulation amendments and the removal of the rule creation process
On April 14, 2022, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks amended the Blue Box Regulation, which included removing the rule creation process and allocation table as the tools to create and maintain the Blue Box collection system. 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.
PROs must submit a report to RPRA by July 1, 2022, providing the following information:
- A description of how the PRO will comply with the collection requirements of the regulation, including any agreements between themselves and any other PRO
- A detailed description of how the PRO 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 the PRO will comply with the promotion and education requirements of the regulation
The report can only be submitted by a PRO or multiple PROs through agreement. The PROs submitting the report must represent (via agreement) producers responsible for more than 66% of the aggregate weight of Blue Box material supplied to consumers in Ontario in 2020, excluding certified compostable products and packaging materials. Once the report is received, it will be posted to RPRA’s website.
Refer to section 50.1 in the amended regulation for more information.
To help registrants and other stakeholders better understand the amendments, RPRA will be hosting a virtual Q&A session with Mary Cummins, RPRA’s Registrar, on Wednesday, May 18, 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Register here. Additionally, RPRA will be organizing an all PRO meeting in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for details.
Signing up with a PRO
The following PROs are registered with the Authority. Click the PRO’s name for their contact information.
Important considerations about working with PROs:
- Producers are not required to sign up with a PRO. 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.
- Producers can have a different PRO for meeting their collection, management, promotion and education, and reporting requirements, and they can enter contracts for each at different times.
- As outlined in the amended Blue Box Regulation (April 14, 2022), rule creation is no longer a service provided by PROs to producers.
How to register as a PRO
PROs are required to register with the Authority within 30 days of being retained by a producer. To assist Blue Box producers in identifying the PROs they want to meet their collection and management requirements, PROs are encouraged to register with the Authority as soon as possible.
If you are interested in registering as a Blue Box PRO, contact our Compliance and Registry Team at 833-600-0530 or registry@rpra.ca.