Environmental Fees on Products Sold in Ontario

In Ontario, businesses may choose to charge environmental fees (also known as resource recovery fees, environmental handling fees, tire handling fees, eco-fees, or recycling fees) to help recover their costs of recycling batteries, household hazardous waste, ITT/AV, lighting, tires, and Blue Box materials. It is up to each business to decide whether to charge environmental fees on their products and determine what amount the fee should be to recover their recycling costs.

RPRA does not charge or mandate that businesses charge environmental fees, nor do we set the amount of the fee to be charged. The regulations that detail the obligations for recycling batteries, Blue Box materials, ITT/AV and lighting, household hazardous waste and tires also do not require the use of these fees.

Frequently asked questions about environmental fees

Click the headings below to read the FAQs.

Businesses have the choice to recover the cost of recycling their products by incorporating those costs into the overall cost of their product (as they do with other costs, such as materials, labour, other regulatory compliance costs, etc.) or by charging it as a separate fee to consumers.

Environmental fees are not mandatory and are applied at the discretion of the business charging them, including the amount of the fee.

No. An environmental fee is not a government tax and cannot be represented as mandatory, a regulatory charge, or a RPRA fee. It is a fee charged at the discretion of a business to recover their costs related to recycling the product.

Consumers who believe the purpose of an environmental fee is being misrepresented can contact the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery directly at 1-800-889-9768.

Consumer protection laws in Ontario prohibit the misrepresentation of charges, which means that producers or retailers cannot misrepresent any visible fees as a regulatory charge, tax, RPRA fee or something similar.

The regulations do not set an environmental fee for any product. The amount of the fee charged is decided by the business.

Have a question?

Producers or retailers that have questions about charging environmental fees should contact RPRA’s Compliance and Registry Team at [email protected] or 1-833-600-0530.

Consumers can learn more about environmental fees on Ontario Recycles, RPRA’s website designed for the public.

For general information about Ontario’s consumer protection laws, visit Consumer Protection Ontario’s website. Consumers who believe that the purpose of the fee is being misrepresented should contact the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery at 1-800-889-9768.