If you purchase batteries, electronics, hazardous and special products or tires in Ontario, you may see an extra charge added to your receipt called an environmental fee, resource recovery fee, environmental handling fee, tire handling fee, eco-fee, recycling fee or something similar.
These fees may be applied at the discretion of businesses to cover their costs related to recycling their products.
The Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority 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, electronics, hazardous and special products and tires also do not require the use of these fees.
It is up to each business to decide whether to charge environmental fees on batteries, electronics or tires and determine what amount the fee should be to recover their recycling costs.
The tires regulation contains rules related to the use of fees on tires, detailed in the Authority’s compliance bulletin Charging Tire Fees to Consumers.
The regulations for electronics and batteries do not contain rules about the use of environmental fees. However, consumer protection laws require that the purpose of the fee not be misrepresented.
What you need to know about environmental fees
Click the headings below to learn more about frequently asked questions on environmental fees.
Have a question?
If you are a producer or retailer and have questions about charging environmental fees, you can contact the Compliance and Registry team at registry@rpra.ca or 1-833-600-0530.
If you are a consumer and believe that the purpose of a fee is being misrepresented, contact the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services directly at 1-800-889-9768.
For general information about Ontario’s consumer protection laws, visit Consumer Protection Ontario’s website.